England notched up its second successive win as it bested a resurgent Mexico 3-2 and ensured a spot in the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
The Group F match at the Salt Lake Stadium here saw one of the best encounters of the tournament so far. Mexico played a fantastic final 25 minutes to take the fight back to England, which till then was cosily positioned with a three-goal lead.
Diego Lainez, one of the most talked about talents from Central America, showed why by scoring twice for Mexico. His performance lit up the match, which for the most part looked heavily loaded in favour of England.
Liverpool FC’s young striker Rihan Brewster put England in the lead late in the opening half before Philip Foden and Jadon Scancho fired one apiece in the second to secure a big lead for their team.
England began the match from where it left off against Chile as it pegged Mexico back defending for most of the opening session. England’s authority came from the combination in the middle between Foden, Geroge McEachran and Sancho. Playing a fantastic passing game, the three hardly allowed their opponents any foothold in the creative zone.
Brewster, who has already started his professional career with the senior Liverpool side, had been erratic on many occasions when it came to converting chances. But the 39th minute free-kick that he curled over the Mexican wall and into the net convinced a good turnout at the stadium about his fantastic abilities.
The English performance after the break was many notches higher as the ‘young Lions’ looked more incisive in their attacks. Foden, a Manchester City youth team player, scored the second in the 48th minuted after completing a fine exchange with Sancho inside the box that put him clear though.
Mexico continued to reel under the relentless English offensive and ended up conceding a penalty in the 54th minute when captain Carlos Robles handled the ball while trying to cut out an intended cross from Sancho. The English left-winger found the mark from the spot to make it 3-0.
It was after this that the Mexicans hit back and almost succeeded after Lainez fired in two in a span of seven minutes. The Mexicans had a couple of more chances to find the equaliser — in the 77th and in time added on — when Alexis Gutierrez and Luis Olivas came close only for their attempts to be blocked by the English defence.
England now has six points from two wins and remains on top of the group standings.
Dawood shines for Iraq
Iraq sailed on Mohammed Dawood’s super striking ability to upset Latin American runner-up Chile 3-0 in the second match of Group F.
In the process the reigning Asian Under-17 champion celebrated its first win in the history of the tournament and brightened its prospects of qualifying for the pre-quarterfinals.
Dawood netted the first two goals with spectacular efforts before forcing the Chilean defender Diego Valencia to score an own goal.
It was the presence of the mercurial striker that virtually created the difference between the two teams.
Iraq, which had lost all its three matches in the first U-17 World Cup appearance in UAE in 2013, did well to hold former champion Mexico to a 1-1 draw in the opening round before the commanding win against Chile.
The results:
Group F: England 3 (Rihan Brewster 39, Philip Foden 48, Jadon Scancho 55-pen) bt Mexico 2 (Diego Lainez 65, 72).
Iraq 3 (Mohammed Dawood 6, 68, D. Valencia 81-og) bt Chile 0.
