Brazil and Mexico will face off in the quarterfinals of the U-17 World Cup on Friday.
Brazil enters the contest as the clear-cut favorites after having pulled off four straight wins; no other team has four wins in this tournament to date. The Seleçao opened its run with a 6-1 win over Slovakia before repeating the scoreline against the United Arab Emirates. In its final group match against Honduras, Brazil won 3-0.
The team then went on to take on Russia and pulled off a solid 3-1 win in that game. Brazil's Boschilia leads all scorers with six tallies in the tournament; the Selecao's Mosquito and Nathan trail him with four goals apiece.
Mexico lost 6-1 against Nigeria in its opening game of the tournament but responded with a 3-1 win over Iraq and a 1-0 victory over Sweden. In the round of 16, El Tri stunned Italy with a 2-0 win.
Mexico is the defending champion and goalie Raul Gudino says that gives the team more motivation.
"It's an added motivation for us that we're defending champions. Every squad has a new crop of players and so there's no extra pressure on us. We want to be world champions as much as everybody else, and our goal is to lift the trophy," Gudino told FIFA.com.
He noted that he is prepared to take on the Brazilian offense.
"I consider myself a confident goalkeeper and I have the physical requirements for it too," he said. "I have no set way of keeping goal, I just try to learn things from others so I can eventually become the best keeper in the world. That's my dream and I believe I can achieve it."
Prediction: Brazil wins 2-0.
Start Time: 12 p.m. EST
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