Under-17 World Cup: Germany beat Guinea, reach round of 16

Brazil, Spain, Ghana, Colombia, Paraguay, Mali, Iran, Germany, France and England are the 10 teams that have made it to the Round of 16. The other six teams to qualify will be decided tomorrow after the end of Group E and F league engagements.

European powerhouse Germany bounced back from their shock defeat in the previous match to beat African side Guinea 3-1 and qualify for the knockout round of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Kochi on Friday.

Jan-Fiete Arp (8th minute), Nicolas Kuehn (62nd) and Sahverdi Cetin (90+2) netted for the winners, while Ibrahima Soumah got the lone goal for Guinea in the 26th minute in the final Group C match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.

Germany, who had lost to Iran 0-4 in their previous match, finished second in the group with six points and qualified for the Round of 16. They face Colombia, who finished second in Group A, in the Round of 16 match in New Delhi on October 16.

Iran, who beat Costa Rica 3-0 in another group match in Goa today, topped the pool with nine points and an all-win record.

Guinea and Costa Rica were knocked out of the tournament with a point each.

In an open match, Guinea had more possession of the ball with 55 per cent and even had more shots, but most of them were off the target. The African side had just two shots on target.

Germany had 17 attempts at the Guinea goal but out of them eight were on target.

German captain Arp, who recently made his Bundesliga debut for Hamburg, gave his side an early lead as he fired in a low shot past the goalkeeper after a Guinea defender made a blunder.

Guinea restored parity in the 26th minute with Soumah finding the target with his left-footed shot.

Germany pressed hard towards the close of the first session but Guinea goalkeeper was upto the task.

In the 42nd minute, Elias Abouchabaka's left footed shot from outside the box off an assist by Yannik Keitel was saved by Guinea goalie Mohamed Camara.

In the added time of the first half, Guinea had a chance to take the lead but Aguibou Camara's right-footed shot from outside the box was saved by German goalkeeper Luca Plogmann.

The two teams had chances throughout the second half. Germany took the lead in the 62nd minute off a quick counter attack after Arp set up Kuehn.

Guinea might have equalised a handful of times but Sahverdi Cetin converted a penalty in the second half injury time to seal the issue for Germany.

Iran blank Costa Rica to finish top of group

Iran blanked Costa Rica 3-0 to top Group C with an all-win record in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Margao on Friday.

Iran had already secured a place in the Round of 16 with wins over Guinea and Germany.

In their final group engagement at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the Asian nation scored through Mohammed Ghobeishavi (25th minute), Taha Shariati (29th) and Mohammad Sardari (89th) to top the group with nine points from three matches.

Costa Rica and Guinea finished the group stage with one point each.

Iran, who topped this group, stay in Goa and will play against one of the third best teams from either Group A, B or F on October 17.

Keen to top the group, Asian powerhouse Iran employed five defenders and kept the rival attackers at bay, while finding the back of the net on three occasions.

After a brief period of midfield battle, Iran slowly opened up the rival defence with raids from the flanks and Costa Rica started feeling panicky, conceded two penalties in a span of four minutes.

Amferny Arias, while going for an aerial ball, brought down Younes Delfi inside the box and referee Hamada Nampiandraza awarded the spot kick, which Iran captain Ghobeishavi converted by sending the ball to the bottom right corner.

Under tremendous pressure in the face of Irani offensive, Costa Rica again conceded a penalty when defender Karin Arce needlessly pushed down Younes Delfi while going for an aerial ball inside the box. On this occasion, defender Shariati had no problem converted it.

Costa Rica, who needed a win to keep themselves in fray for the knockouts, found the going tough and were not allowed space by the Iranian defenders.

After the break, Costa Rica coach Breansse Camacho brought his trump card Jose Alfaro in the hope of changing their fortunes, but to no avail.

Iran, who held the midfield superiority, rounded off the tally through Sardari's strike off a through ball by Airhossein Hosseinzadeh. 

Spain breeze past Korea, enter knockout

Mohamed Moukhliss and Cesar Gelabert struck a goal each as European champions Spain secured a ticket to the Round of 16 with a comfortable 2-0 win over North Korea in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Kochi on Friday.

Moukhliss opened the scoring as early as in the fourth minute, while Gelabert doubled the lead by striking one in the 71st minute.

Spain finished the league engagements in Group D in second position with six points behind leaders Brazil. Spain lost to Brazil in their tournament opener, but bounced back with a 4-0 rout of Niger.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Spain had no trouble against their opponents from Korea, and the match went on expected lines.

With this result, North Korea bow out of the tournament without a win.

The first goal came when Moukhliss shot one from the centre of the box off an assist by Gelabert.

The Spanish dominated the game and had the lion's share of possession throughout.

Gelabert added the second goal in the second half -- his right-footed shot from a very close range found the back of the net.

So dominant was Spain that they even came close to scoring in the injury time of the second half.

Brazil beat Niger 2-0, finish top with all-win record

Tournament-favourites Brazil lived up to their billing as they scored a convincing 2-0 victory over Niger to top Group D in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, in Margao on Friday.

The three-time champions, who enjoyed possession against a spirited Niger outfit, scored through Lincoln (4th minute) and Brenner (34th).

Debutants Niger gave a good account of themselves and performed better in the second half and had their share of chances, but found the rival keeper Gabriel Brazao a hard nut to crack.

Brazil topped the group with nine points, while Spain, who beat DPR Korea at Kochi in the day's other match, finished second with six points.

Brazil, Spain, Ghana, Colombia, Paraguay, Mali, Iran, Germany, France and England are the 10 teams that have made it to the Round of 16. The other six teams to qualify will be decided tomorrow after the end of Group E and F league engagements.

Niger, who finished third with three points still have a chance to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams. DPR Korea finished last without a win.