BHUBANESWAR: The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is set to kick off simultaneously at two venues on Tuesday. While Chile will take on New Zealand at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao, Kalinga Stadium here will be witness to a clash of newcomers and veterans of the game.
Brazil, with their third successive qualification, will be making their sixth appearance at the U-17 sports extravaganza. The only time they missed out on the World Cup was in 2014.
But their opponents on the day, Morocco, have qualified for the 2022 edition as the first country from North Africa to represent themselves at the biennial event. They achieved a first for the nation and the continental region by winning the African U-17 qualifying tournament.
"We are here to do the impossible against some of the biggest teams in the world," Morocco coach Anthony Rimasson said at the press conference on Monday.
While Brazil's reputation as a football powerhouse is beyond justification, the same cannot be said of their U-17 women's team that has failed to ever lift the trophy or make it beyond the quarterfinals.
This time, however, the investment of the Brazilian federation on grassroots development over the last few years could spring a change in the outcome. And coach Simone Gomez Jatoba feels they could do well against the odds that seem to be stacked against them.
"Our preparation started late and we didn't get to play many friendlies during the same. We had just one match before coming to India. We have since been acclimatising to the very different weather here," Jatoba said on Monday.
"We had two afternoon sessions of training that helped us identify the conditions. The heat and humidity is very different and there's a lot of sweating. But it gave us an idea of what to expect tomorrow (Tuesday)."
