ALLAN D’CRUZ

FATORDA: Two of the most attacking teams in the tournament take the centre stage at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, as England lock horns with United States of America (USA) in one of the most exciting FIFA U-17 World Cup quart-final’s fixture, on Saturday.

Coming into the game, the two sides have scored 21 goals in-between them conceding just five. The Young Lions are fourth while USA is fifth on the goals scoring chart — thus showing their attacking stature in the tournament! 

Steve Cooper’s men topped the Group F with brilliant performances from Jadon Sancho, who not only scored goals, but was also a vital player for his team. Definitely his absence was felt in the match against Japan.

Possibly the toughest and best team in the tournament so far — at least on paper — England were made to slog before sneaking their way into quarters scoring a 5-3 win over Japan.  However, England coach stresses on the experience his side received from the tournament so far which could help them overcome strong and fighting USA.

“We are very excited about the game tomorrow. The World Cup experience has been great which has helped in development of the team. We are focused and looking forward towards the game,” said Steve Cooper while addressing the press conference at Nehru Stadium.

England squad features Manchester City youth players Phil Foden, Curtis Anderson, who rescued his team with his heroics in the shootout against the Asian side in the R16 clash, Chelsea’s George McEachran, Manchester United’s Angel Gomes, who got two goals to his name and Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster.

The two teams have earlier locked horns in the international friendlies wherein they played out a 2-2 and 3-3 draws in the regulation time before both teams wining on either occasions in the shootout.

“We have a fantastic relation with the US Federation. Tomorrow it won’t be different. We are in for a strong and a tough game. When it comes to World Cup, we want to encounter the best. That is what we did so far and tomorrow will be one more of such outings,” said Cooper.

Meanwhile, the stars and stripes making their 16th appearance are also in the hunt to break their duck as they look to make their way past the European heavyweights to lay their hands on the trophy for the first time.

After winning their first knock out match since their stunning run in the 1999 wherein they finished fourth, Coach John Hackworth men rates the team as one of the best side since then.

“This is a team with good character. They enjoy each other and they like to be pushed. They are quite better and this is the best team I ever had,” confessed USA Coach John Hackworth while addressing the pre-match conference at Nehru Stadium.

USA also posses great attacking qualities in Josh Sargent, Tim Weah, who went on to score tournament’s first hat-trick and Andrew Carleton and the coach praised their infield chemistry and transitional play which make them a real threat to the opposition. Taking one game at a time, Coach Hackworth revealed that his side is not new to the English football team.

“We know England very well. This age group we have played four times and we are familiar with them. It will be tremendous game. We have two teams which play by same philosophy and principles,” he revealed.