After 50 gruelling battles, it's all down to the showpiece clash when Spain tussle with new-looking England — following an identical philosophy of possession — in the Final of the FIFA under-17 World Cup at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium here on Saturday.
Traditionally known for their style of dominating possession through complete control of the midfield, Spain will face an English side, who believes in the same philosophy of taking control of the game through the middle; a project that was recently started by the English Football Association.
"It's the style we believe in and we want to continue playing in the coming years," said Steve Cooper, who admitted his football style his influenced by the widely-known Spanish-style football. "The project was started a couple of years back by our federation. We got technically-gifted young footballers in our country now and we believe that playing with the ball under our feet is the right way forward for the national team. We plan to induce the style in the senior team gradually."
Staying true to his words, Cooper's side has kept more than 56 percent possession in the tournament so far -- more than la Rojita (49.42 per cent).
The midfield trio of Morgan Gibbs-White (attacking midfielder), George McEachran (centre midfielder) and Tasha Oakley-Booth (defensive midfielder) have gelled together well in due course of the competition and played their best football against Brazil when they completely took control of the midfield.
Three lions are also blessed with skillful players such as Rhian Brewster, Phillip Foden and more. Hence the team has also scored goals from the counter on a handful of occasions. Brewster especially took the world by storm with his back-to-back hat-tricks in the knockout phases — against heavyweights Brazil and the United States of America — and has been a force to reckon with after the departure of Young lions' starlet Jadon Sancho.
Foden and Callum Hudson-Odoi — with equal support from the fullbacks in Steve Sessegnon and Jonathan Panzo — provide an overdose of penetration from either side of the flanks and will be a handful for the Hugo Guillamon-led side to deal with.
Spain, being aware of their counterpart's attacking prowess, already have a plan in place to deal with the imminent threat.
"We know they have a strong attack but we don't want to deal with them individually," said the Spanish coach Santiago Denia. "Best way to deal with them is to defend as a team. If we defend as one unit, we will be able to do well. And when I say defend as a team, I mean that through means of possession."
Ironically, this Spanish team, despite the claim of playing with possession, has often took a pragmatic approach to hack counterparts defence. As a matter of fact, while facing tougher opponents — Mali, Brazil and France — their possession has been alarmingly 48 percent on an average.
Despite mix-match in their approach, England has an edge over the Spaniards when it comes to physical factor. Making the English side more diverse compared to the Spanish team.
"Both teams like to play football with possession," explained Brazil coach Carlos Amadeu. "England have technically gifted players like Spain but England got physicality too, which Spain really don't have."
la Rojita's captain Hugo Guillamon feels it won't be an issue as they have dealt with the physical teams before and won those matches too. "We have played a physical side before and we were able to overcome them as a team," said the defender from Valencia academy. "We played Mali, who were very physical. So we do have the experience to play a physical team."
Being in an emphatic form, Brewster currently leads the top-scorer table with 7 goals. But his lead at the top is just cut short to 1 goal by Abel Ruiz. The Barcelona striker with a brace in the semifinal against Mali in Navi Mumbai took his goal count to 6 goals. Whether, it's the match-deciding penalty against France in the quarter-final or a brace against Iraq in knockout phase decider, the captain has always led the team from front.
However, his counterpart, defender Joel latibeaudierre feels Spain is not just about Ruiz as they have more players who can do the damage. "I don't think it's just about one player," Manchester City academy defender said. "They have a lot of strength in attacks. If we just focus on one, we would be punished. So we need to work as a team to negate the overall danger."
But looking at the form of both the competing strikers, it is safe to assume that whoever lifts the golden boot trophy might lead the team to victory in the mega Final.
Squads
England: Curtis Anderson, Josef Bursik, William Crelin; Timothy Eyoma, Joel latibeaudiere, Marc Guehi, Jonathan Panzo, lewis Gibson, Steven Sessegnon, Morgan Gibbs White, Tashan Oakley Boothe; Conor Gallagher, Angel Gomes, Nya Kirby, George McEachran; Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson Odoi, Philip Foden, Emile Smith Rowe, Rhian Brewster, Daniel loader.
Spain: Alvaro Fernandez, Mateu Jaume, Juan Miranda, Hugo Guillamon, Victor Chust, Antonio Blanco, Ferran Torres, Mohamed Moukhliss, Abel Ruiz, Sergio Gomez, Nacho Diaz, Pedro Ruiz. Marc Vidal, Alvaro Garcia, Eric Garcia, Diego Pampin, Jose lara, Cesar Gelabert, Carlos Beitia, Victor Perea, Alfonso Pastor.