Chile U-17 team: now joins Round of 16

*Argentina, Hondura sent packing from tournament

Chile has advanced to the Round of 16 in the FIFA U-17 world cup tournament that it is hosting, without kicking a ball.

The hosts nation came third in Group A, behind Nigeria and Croatia.

Chile’s qualification  was one of the highlights of the matches played Saturday, in which four other teams  also qualified  for the Round of 16.

They are Mexico, Germany, Mali and Ecuador.

It was not such a good day for Argentina and Honduras, meanwhile, whose stay at the tournament came to a premature end.

In the day’s initial set of matches, Mali again lived up to their credentials of champions of Africa by comfortably defeating Honduras 3-0 and finishing top of Group D in the process. The Central Americans, who failed to register a point, bid farewell to the competition.

In the same section, Ecuador overcame Belgium 2-0 in composed fashion, ensuring themselves of second place. The Belgians, who sit on four points, will have to wait and see what transpires on the final day of group play on Sunday to discover their fate.

In the evening encounters, Mexico pulled off a fine 2-1 win over a powerful German side to top Group C, just ahead of their European opponents. Elsewhere, Australia gave themselves a decent chance of moving on to the last 16 after upsetting Argentina and finishing third with four points.

Results
Ecuador 2-0 Belgium (Group D)
Mali 3-0 Honduras (Group D)
Germany 1-2 Mexico (Group C)
Argentina 1-2 Australia (Group C)

Today’s matches:

Russia-South Africa (Group E)
Costa Rica-Korea DPR (Group E)
France-Syria (Group F)
Paraguay-New Zealand (Group F)