Golden Eaglets of Nigeria will on Friday in Abu Dhabi, have their eyes on the FIFA U-17 World Cup trophy as they face reigning champions Mexico in the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013. This highly anticipated clash will be the second time that the teams have faced each other at this year’s tournament, with both having emerged from the same section.The match is scheduled for 5.00pm Nigerian time.Group F may well have been the proverbial ‘group of death,’ but three of the four teams it contained survived until the semi-finals, and two made it all the way to the final. Long before the tournament even kicked off, Mexico and Nigeria were already regarded as favourites to claim the silverware. But after the 6-1 humiliation suffered by El Tri in their opening match against the Golden Eaglets, the title holders’ dreams of defending their trophy appeared to have been prematurely crushed, while the Africans confirmed they would be a force to be reckoned with.But 20 days later, the final is likely to be a completely different story.As the Nigerians went from strength to strength, Raul Gutierrez’s men dug deep to recover mentally and concentrate on the attributes exhibited by their victorious predecessors in 2011. Judging by the two semi-finals, where Nigeria saw off Sweden 3-0 and Mexico defeated Argentina by the same scoreline, the showpiece match on Friday should be a closely contested affair.Manu Garba’s charges have two significant statistics in their favour: they are yet to be beaten in the competition, and they boast the most prolific attack (23 goals). Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi and Musa Yahaya spearhead a side that is constantly on the move and harasses the opposition with or without the ball, posing a serious challenge for any defence.El Tri, meanwhile, have found the net with much less frequency (11 times), but can boast a compact unit that bounced back from their initial setback to eliminate Brazil and Argentina.
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