The Baby Nats of USA in the early hours of Thursday played a barren draw with Netherlands in the U17 World cup to make qualifications in group D go the way of football permutation.
The draw has given USA a point and Netherlands no point while Senegal tops the group with 6 points and Japan chalked 4 points. Senegal only needs a draw with Japan in the last group match to remain on top while a draw will make Japan qualify automatically with Senegal for the round of 16.
A win for USA against Netherlands with basket goals like four or five when Japan loses to Senegal without a goal may qualify USA for the round of 16 or move on as a lucky loser. A win for Netherlands is to enter the Prayer room and ask God of soccer for grace to be among the four lucky losers.
Last group matches in group D is Senegal versus Japan and Netherlands versus USA both to be played simultaneously at midnight of Saturday.
The 4-2 victory of Chile over Haiti early Thursday morning has compounded who leads group C. France currently leads with 6 points but both Chile and Korea share 3 points each with Haiti standing miserably with no point and three goals deficit.
Korea versus Chile match at 2100 hours of Saturday is the star match of group C. At the same time France will be taking on Haiti in what is termed a formality match. If Haiti pulls an upset with a victory over France, which may happen in football, then the football mathematics will resolve the matter. The Korea versus Chile match will definitely affect the final group table.
If Korea wins, Chile will struggle to be among lucky loser and it will be difficult with zero goals difference. Even if Haiti causes upset and defeat France, Korea will need 4-0 goals to bring France to second on the group table.
– ENIOLA OLATUNJI.
