I now know Eaglets better – Mexico's coach

By John Egbokhan reporting from UAE
As the zero hour approaches to today's
final match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup
between the Golden Eaglets and El Tri in the
beautiful National Stadium in Abu Dhabi,
Mexico coach Raul Gutierrez has said that he
knows the Nigerians better.
Gutierrez saw his side battered 6-1 by the
Eaglets in their opening Group F game on
October 19 in Al Ain and remarkably was
still able to steer them to the final, where
they come up against the Nigerians, who
have grown into a goalscoring machine,
netting 23 goals.
Speaking after seeing his boys beat
Argentina 3-0 in the semifinal, the coach
who declared himself a "happy" man even
though he thought his team had played their
best, said "I will always be proud of this
team. Ivan (Ochoa) has always been a very
consistent player, mature despite his age and
that is reflected in every game he has
played."
Gutierrez was looking forward to playing
Nigeria again in the final. He pointed out
that three of the last four teams in the
competition had all emerged from the same
first-round group and thus had extra
knowledge of each other's game.
"I now know the Nigerians better. The last
time we played, I did not know them well
but I have since learnt a lot from them and
think that it is advantage for my team", said
the coach.