2025 UEFA European Under-17 Championship/FIFA Under-17 World Cup

[elatedscum]

The group stage draw for the U17 World Cup is being held this Sunday, the 25th
https://inside.fifa.com/organisation...mblem-revealed


Ireland have been included in the fourth seeds, along with every other country who's never qualified. If you look at the teams in the same pot as us, it's actually not that bad - there are some teams in pots 2 and 3 I'd much rather face than the other teams in pot 4.
Interestingly, no group can contain two teams from the same confederation
Having a look at the teams in the other pots - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_F...ld_Cup#Seeding - there's a reasonable chance we could finish second or third, and qualify for the second round.

Honestly we could win the group if we were lucky:

1st seeds:

Brazil and Argentina should be a lot better than us
Mexico, Senegal and Japan might be slight favourites against us, but wouldn't guarantee it
USA, Mali and Paraguay I'd have us as slight favourites
Qatar I'd back us to beat

2nd seeds are about half teams at about our level: South Korea, Chile, Colombia, Morrocco and half weaker teams like New Zealand, Honduras, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Uzbekistan

3rd seeds: Ivory Coast and Tunisia could trouble us - but most teams shouldn't (Tajikistan, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Canada, Haiti, South Africa, North Korea, Panama, Costa Rica)

[tetsujin1979]

Draw for the first group stage is about to start, Ireland in pot 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YffIjRIcKsA
(embedding disabled for video)

[Eirambler]

First ever 48 team group draw and they left us hanging - we were the 48th and final team drawn out.

Seems like a decent draw, though I'll admit I know nothing of the quality of the Paraguay, Panama and Uzbekistan Under 17 teams.

Felt like we were getting a stickier group involving South Korea, Mexico and Ivory Coast for a long time with the way that pot was being repeatedly skipped over in the draw.

[samhaydenjr]

First ever 48 team group draw and they left us hanging - we were the 48th and final team drawn out.

Seems like a decent draw, though I'll admit I know nothing of the quality of the Paraguay, Panama and Uzbekistan Under 17 teams.

Felt like we were getting a stickier group involving South Korea, Mexico and Ivory Coast for a long time with the way that pot was being repeatedly skipped over in the draw.

Right now, the only way to gauge it would be based on how they qualified, I guess.
Uzbekistan won the Asian Cup in some style, scoring 17 goals and conceding only 3 over six games.

Panama topped a qualifying group, containing Dominican republic, Aruba and Grenada.

Paraguay came fifth in the South American championship

[Eirambler]

Panama is our first game. Again, I know nothing of their ability but would guess that's potentially the weakest of the three opponents. Win that and we should be in decent shape. Uzbekistan are a bit of a coming football nation in Asia, so may be decent enough and Paraguay I'm guessing will be OK too. Still, win the opener and we should be getting out of that group.

[tetsujin1979]

FAI realigns men's under-age coaching structure to support FIFA U-17 World Cup campaign
https://www.fai.ie/latest/fai-realig...-cup-campaign/

[tetsujin1979]

Squad announced for the U17 World Cup

[elatedscum]

Big news is Billie O'Neill is left out despite scoring goals galore for Bray and despite the fact we basically only have one striker in the squad.

Other notable things are:

1) Ali Topcu doesn't make it. Very harsh considering there are 3 keepers. If you just ignore the fact he's tiny, then I genuinely think he's probably the best keeper available. Guessing 3 keepers are mandatory, otherwise I would have taken 2. Possible Corey Sheridan gets in because he's been capped for NI.
2) Mo Oladiti doesn't make it. Not surprising since he hasn't been in a squad in 11 months but back then he was the undisputed first choice right back and a lovely footballer. Also only one real RB in the squad. Billy Canny was also an option.
3) Could probably have gotten away with one centre half less since we have 4 (McDonagh, Leonard, Cullen, Spaight) and Solanke is comfortable there too. Spaight is a year up, which is interesting. Rafe McCormack was a viable option at CB, especially considering he was an u19 last month. I've always liked Sam Steward but he hasn't played since u16 so would have been a huge shock.
4) Midfield wise, can't really argue with much. Jay McEvoy is definitely good enough. He was with the 19s last camp. But all those 6 midfielders are good enough (you might switch Ozhianvuna and McAteer around in the midfield/forwards list).
5) Kovalevskis is lad for me who is on the borderline. Billy O'Neill has to make the squad, either as winger or striker. You either remove a defender or a keeper if possible or someone like Max. You could also add another striker if you consider O'Neill as a winger but there's no real standout for that slot (Tollett, Rooney, Idah, Akintintola are options - along with Shay Reid who was with the u19s last camp - or you could go down to the year below to Ben Mahon or whoever).