By Philem Dipak SinghKolkata, Oct 29 (PTI) The world's most talented youngplayers gave India a memorable show of high quality footballon the field while the country showcased its organisationalskills in near flawless and record-breaking tournament acrosssix cities, which culminated with England clinching the title.
Packed with players from the academies of top EnglishPremier League clubs, England grabbed their maiden title intheir fourth appearance after beating Spain 5-2 in the highestscoring and perhaps the best summit clash of all the FIFA U-17World Cups till today.
In a tournament of many firsts, it was befitting that thetwo best technically sound teams met at the finale -- firstever all European final. Both sides provided an exhibition ofenthralling possession football and attacking style of play.
Legendary Dutchman Marco van Basten, who is currentlyFIFA Chief Officer for Technical Development, hailed thetournament for the high quality on the field and technicallevel of the players.
England avenged their loss to Spain in the EuropeanChampionships final in May and became only the ninth countryto clinch the title here last night.
The win meant the 'Three Lions' ruled the world at theage-group level after their U-20 side won the World Cup inKorea earlier this year.
The Steve Cooper-coached side also remained the onlyunbeaten team in the tournament. They defeated strong sideslike Mexico, United States and Brazil before teaching Spainsome lesson on attacking football in the second session of thesummit clash in front of full-to-the-brim Salt Lake Stadium.
Spain, on the other hand, yet again ended as runners-upfor the fourth time after 1991, 2003 and 2007. With most oftheir starting XI coming from the academies of top two La Ligasides -- Barcelona and Real Madrid -- the Santiago Denia-coached team was packed with talented and technically topclass players.
But they were simply overwhelmed by an exceptionalEngland, who recovered from two-goal deficit with a brilliantexhibition of attacking football.
Three-time champions Brazil disappointed at the businessend of the tournament and were beaten by more attackingly-efficient England in the semifinals.
They started as pre-tournament and crowd favourites andshowed glimpses of their natural flair, but surprisinglylacked finishing. They even struggled to find the oppositionnet against the likes of Niger and North Korea.
Manchester City starlet Philip Phoden, who was praised byfirst team coach Pep Guardiola, mesmerised the Indian fans allthrough the tournament and was the tormentor of Spain lastnight with his speed, technique and finishing abilities.
Fittingly, Phoden, who scored twice last night, wasadjudged the player of the tournament and got the Golden Ballwhile his team-mate Rhian Brewster, who scored two hat-tricksin the tournament to almost single-handedly send USA andBrazil packing, emerged as the top scorer with eight goals andreceived the Golden Boot.
The home side, as expected, could not get past the groupstage, losing all their matches against Ghana, Colombia andUSA. But they fought well with good organisation andmaintaining the shape. They came close to grabbing their firstpoint before losing 1-2 to Colombia with Jeakson Singhbecoming the first Indian to score a World Cup goal.
Coach Luis Norton de Matos conceded the gap between hisside and other countries. FIFA President Gianni Infantino alsopointed out the same though he said the gap was not that much.
Off the field, the tournament was a resounding success,which Infantino declared after presiding the FIFA CouncilMeeting here ahead of the summit clash.
The Council was held for the time at the venue of a FIFAU-17 World Cup host country.
This edition of the U-17 World Cup turned out to be amilestone event as it became the most attended and highestscoring tournament in its history. It became the most attendedmen's age-group World Cup ever, shattering the most attendancerecord of FIFA U-20 World Cup.
With 66684 turning up to see the summit clash here, thetotal attendance at the six host venues logged 1347143, whichis 116,167 more than the earlier record attendance of1,230,976 set in the first edition in China in 1985.
The total number of spectators in this FIFA U-17 WorldCup is also 37,214 more than the record of highest attendancein an U-20 World Cup -- that of 1,309,929 in Colombia in 2011.
The India edition also became the highest scoringtournament with 177 goals from 52 matches, bettering theearlier highest of 172 during the 2013 United Arab Emirates.
It also has the highest goal average of 3.40 per matchsince the tournament format was changed in 2007 to a 24-teamaffair from the earlier 16-team participation.
The only blemish the tournament had, if there was one,was the semifinal match between Brazil and England beingshifted from Guwahati to Kolkata due to poor ground conditionsafter heavy rains in the Assam capital.
The huge success of the tournament prompted All IndiaFootball Federation President Praful Patel requestingInfantino to allot the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup to India, butthe world body chief did not give any commitment. PTI PDS CMCM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.