Ras Al Khaimah: ‘Everything is possible’ for Uruguay coach Fabian Coito heading into his side’s Fifa Under-17 World Cup second-round match with Slovakia at Emirates Club in Ras Al Khaimah on Tuesday.

Uruguay, the losing finalists from the last World Cup, topped Group B on seven points following 7-0 and 2-1 defeats of New Zealand and Italy either side of a 1-1 draw with the Ivory Coast.

With the exception of record three-time champions Brazil and Nigeria, La Celeste (The Sky Blues) scored more goals (eight) and conceded fewer goals (two) than any other team in the group stages.

Following an assured last group game win over European Under-17 Championship runners-up Italy, they can now feel rightfully confident heading into the second round against Slovakia, a side that only earned qualification as one of the four best third-place teams.

“One of the things we wanted was to stay here [in Ras Al Khaimah],” said Uruguay coach Fabian Coito. “Now we continue with the same humility and thinking that everything is possible. We were in a very tough group, which gives us confidence and gives us many possibilities to face the next phase with confidence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Uruguay striker Kevin Mendez has expressed his relief that the team are not just relying on goals from South American Under-17 Championship top scorer Franco Acosta, who is currently joint second in the competition’s highest scorers’ list with three.

“For the team, it is important to have many players who can score instead of relying on a single striker, although I must say that Franco was magnificent in the South American Championship. But now it’s players in other positions [who are performing well], which is very positive,” Mendez said.

“The prospects are good. We must try to do our best to try to be world champions. Now with hard sacrifice, we can fight for the World Cup.”

For Slovakia, who only learnt of their qualification to the second round from their hotel room after watching Uzbekistan get a late winner over Croatia on Thursday, the Uruguay game gifts them a second chance in the competition.

Following a 6-1 opening defeat to Brazil, they recovered to draw 2-2 with Honduras before a 2-0 win over UAE, with striker Tomas Vestinicky currently joint highest in the top scorers’ list with four goals.

“It is good that we continue and we will again have the chance to show what we can do,” said Slovakia coach Ladislav Pecko. “For the work we have done so far, we probably deserved to qualify.”

Captain Jakub Hromada said: “This may be our last duel at the World Cup, as well as our chance to progress. We know what to expect and it will be an extremely difficult match. Already we can’t wait.”