The FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011

The trophy at stake

By Gbenga Subair, New York

Rwandan U-17 team

The FIFA U-17 World Cup the 14^th edition starts today, Sunday, 26^th June 2011, with the opening match taking place in the city of Morelia. Host country, Mexico, opens the tournament against North Korea who will be making their third ever appearance in this competition. Mexico, champions in 2005 in Peru beating Brazil in that classic final 3-0 will be hoping to achieve the same feat again on home soil when the final takes place on 10^th July, 2011 at the legendary Azteca stadium in Mexico City, which holds a capacity of 105,064 thousand fans.

It was the venue of the two classic World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986, which crowned Pele and Maradona as World Cup champions.  A total of 24 teams qualified for this tournament across six confederations and will be hoping for a lot of success when the group games begin. The games will be spread across seven cities with the third place match and final to be played at the Azteca stadium. The only time the stadium will host two matches.

The two finalists from the last tournament which was hosted in Nigeria 2009 are present in Mexico. Current champions, Switzerland, and host country Nigeria who both played in that final match in Abuja two years ago did not qualify for this year’s tournament. Which means, a new country will be crowned champions on July 10, 2011?

A lot of new exciting talents are expected to showcase their skills to the world and new discoveries are expected to emerge from this tournament regardless of what the results are. The choice of Mexico hosting another FIFA tournament is nothing after having hosted two FIFA World Cups, an U-20 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup which Mexico won in 1999 beating Brazil in the final. The FIFA U-17 World Cup will make it a total of five FIFA tournaments Mexico will be hosting. An impressive record for a country that is one of the top footballing powerhouses in the CONCACAF region.

One of the beautiful and inspiring stories to come out of all the countries who qualified for the U-17 World Cup in Mexico will be Rwanda, a country located in the central/eastern part of Africa with a population of 11 million people will be making their first ever appearance in a FIFA tournament.  A country still emerging from the dark episodes of the genocide that took place in the mid 90’s and something the country continues to reconcile with and overcome as each year goes by.

The Rwanda U-17 team, who are popularly called the “Junior Wasps”, will be carrying the hopes and touch of a nation when they play in their first ever FIFA match at the Estadio Hidalgo on the 19^th June against England in the city of Pachuca. They will be carrying the hopes and weight of a nation and will definitely represent as worthy ambassadors when the tournament kicks off. Let the games begin… The whole world looks to Mexico again for the next three weeks of action, excitement and suspense.