Despite having met each other at this level on several occasions in European Championships, this will be the first meeting between the sides at a FIFA U-17 World Cup.






Spain have had the smoother passage into the quarter-finals, however that does not make them automatic favourites to hold sway against their northern neighbours. The pair know each other so well that there is unlikely to be any surprises in Jeju. The last time the two sides met, in a UEFA U-17 European Championship tie in April, the Iberians ran out 2-0 winners, but even so, no one from either camp was venturing a prediction in the run up to their latest encounter.


As for the match itself, Spain are unlikely to vary their hitherto successful tactic of dominating through possession football, while France, in contrast, can be expected to favour a physical game with the emphasis on a direct, high-tempo style. What the teams do have in common, however, is a clinical centre forward with designs on the tournament top-scorer award. For the Spanish it is Bojan Krkic (4 goals) and for the French Damien Le Tallec (3), and their contributions could well prove decisive.