Iran, Spain, England and Mali emerged victorious in the day’s four Round of 16 ties at the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.
The Iranians pounced on two early lapses by the Mexico defence to take an unassailable lead and advance into the last eight for the first time at their fourth attempt. Defeat meant a backward step for the Mexicans, who reached the semi-finals at the last three U-17 world finals.
Spain came from behind to knock out France, not for the first time this year. After thwarting what had been the competition’s most prolific attack, La Rojita are now bidding for a third consecutive semi-final place.
England failed to hit their group-phase heights, but did enough from the penalty spot to edge out Japan and equal their best-ever performance at the competition, which came at Korea Republic 2007 and Mexico 2011.
Chile 2015 runners-up Mali had no such problems in seeing off Iraq, with Lassana N’Diaye striking twice to join France’s Amine Gouiri as the tournament’s joint top scorer with five goals.
The games
Iran 2-1 Mexico
France 1-2 Spain
England 0-0 (5-3 PEN) Japan
Mali 5-1 Iraq
Source: FIFA
