ANGEL GONZALEZ / AIPS* in ABU DHABI: Mexico manager Raul Gutierrez believes that the thrashing inflicted on his team by Nigeria in their opening game at the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 is irrelevant to the outcome of their rematch in the final.

Nigeria won the group game 6-1 against the champions and Potro [Pony] Gutierrez said that the first game would not be the basis for the strategy to be used second time around.

He said: “They are two different games in different scenarios, so you have to play it differently.”

But the fact that both teams were aware of each other’s style made the game “more difficult because both teams know each other and that makes a game more complicated.”

Gutierrez noted that just as Mexico deserved to be in the last phase of the competition , so Nigeria were also in the final for good reasons.

He said: “There’s no doubt that Nigeria have shown potential as a team but I believe that Mexico have also shown things and are going to rely on those great things that we have shown already to solve the problem of Nigeria.”

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* AIPS, the international sports journalists association, is running a Young Reporters course at the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 with the support of the local organising committee and FIFA

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