THE AFRICAN Football Confederation has described the FIFA U-17 World Cup which is currently taking part in Nigeria as the competition to have exploited the full potential of African youth. On CAF's official website 'A competition shaped for Africa' said that between Nigeria and Ghana, they had won the competition five times, Ghana having won twice and Nigeria thrice. The two leaders of the continent in the cadet category also met in the finals in 1993. With five representatives, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Gambia, and Nigeria, who are reigning champions and hosts, Africa shall look to perform better this time around. In 1985 China hosted the first edition of the U-17 World Championships and Nigeria became the first nation to win the competition that year. Africa had three representatives at the inaugural competition -- Guinea, Congo and Nigeria. Congo ended their campaign last in Group B. Guinea, after two victories against the US 1-0 and Bolivia 3-0 and a defeat against China 2-1, made it to the quarter-finals where she defeated Australia 4-2 after post-match penalties. The game had ended on a virgin parity. In the semi-finals they were defeated by Nigeria who had previously beaten Italy 1-0, Costa Rica 3-0 and played a zero all tie with Saudi Arabia in the group stage. The Nigeria U-17 team then thrashed Hungary 3-1 in the quarter-finals and went on to win the competition. In the play-off game Guinea fell to Brazil 4-1 as Nigeria humbled Germany 2-0 to lift the trophy. Two years later in Canada, Nigeria played its second consecutive finals but was defeated by the then USSR 3-1 after post-match penalties. The game had ended 1-1 in regular time. Another African side, Ivory Coast, took third place after overcoming Italy 2-1 in the third place game. Egypt had been eliminated in the group stages. In 1989, Scotland hosted the tournament and Ghana after two draws against the hosts and Cuba suffered a defeat against Bahrain and was sent parking. Guinea also suffered the same fate after draws with Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Portugal. Nigeria, the last African representative got eliminated in the quarter final stages by Saudi Arabia. Africa came back strong in 1991 in Italy, thanks to the victory of Ghana against Spain 1-0 in the finals. After emerging second in the group that also had Cuba, Uruguay and Spain, Ghana beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarter-finals, dispatched Qatar in the semis (0-0, 4- 2p) and overwhelmed Spain in the finals. Nigeria and Ghana were on rendezvous on 4 September 1993 in Tokyo when the two African sides played the finals of the competition won by Nigeria. Wilson Oruma and Anosike were on target for the Nigerian side while Fameye scored for the Black Starlets. It was the first and last time that two African teams met in the finals of a FIFA organised competition. Ghanaians were bent on taking revenge in 1995 when Ecuador hosted the competition. After emerging first of their group just like the Nigerians they went on to defeat Portugal 2-0 in the quarter-finals before dominating Oman 3-1. Nigeria was next in line as it overcame its African rivals in the semi-finals before beating Brazil 3-2 in the finals. Guinea did not make the knockout stages. Brazil had not had the final say as two years later in Egypt, it proved it had learnt from past mistakes. African representatives Egypt, Mali and Ghana were all in confident mood but had diverse fortunes: Mali, after a defeat by Germany in the last eight, 4-3; host Egypt failed to win against Spain while Ghana was the only team to progress after thrashing Oman 4-1. The team went on with its good form till the finals when it beat Brazil 3-2. Ghana was another proud African representative in 1999 when New Zealand hosted the competition but failed at the final huddle when it was ousted by Brazil (2-2, 4-2 after penalties). Burkina Faso and Mali all suffered first round exits. For the second time in 2001 Africa saw its three representatives -- Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria -- progress to the quarter-finals. Mali was eliminated at that stage by Argentina 2-1, Burkina Faso was victorious over Costa Rica 2-0 just as Nigeria overcame Australia 5-1. The face to face between the Burkinabes and Nigerians in the semi-finals ended in favour of the Nigerians 1-0. Burkina Faso, however, got consolation with a 2-0 victory over Argentina in the third place game while Nigeria was humbled 3-0 by France in the finals. The 2003 edition shall remain as the worst for the continent as none of its representatives -- Cameroon, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -- made it past the group stages of the competition. But it was during the draws that Nigeria was eliminated by Costa Rica after the two teams finished the group stage on equal points. The same scenario repeated itself in 2005 in Peru when Ivory Coast, Gambia and Ghana were eliminated prematurely. But in 2007 in South Korea, when the competition for the first time was played by 24 teams, Africa put up a strong showing when Nigeria outmuscled Spain in the finals (0-0, 3 - 0 after penalties). Ghana ended in fourth place after a playoff defeat to Germany 2-1. Tunisia was eliminated by France in the quarter-finals 3-1 while Togo was booted out in the first round. It might, therefore, not be surprising if Africa continues its remarkable record on the World U-17 stage as it has always done in the past.
