Mexico's senior squad may be sweating a tough year, but it appears the youth ranks haven't been affected.
El Tri beat Argentina 3-0 on Tuesday in the FIFA U-17 World Cup semifinals in Abu Dhabi, sending the Mexican Under-17s to their second consecutive World Cup final.
A brace from Iván Ochoa put El Tri ahead in the first half, before Marco Granados added a third goal in the game's dying minutes. The result sends Mexico to the final on Friday to face Nigeria, who beat Sweden in the other semifinal, 3-0.
That will be the second meeting of the tournament between the teams, as the African nation thrashed Mexico 6-1 in the first match of the tournament for both sides.
The win gives Mexico a chance to repeat as U-17 champions, following their 2011 win on home soil. The U-17s also won the 2005 World Cup in Peru. The success at that age group has continued in other youth-level age brackets in recent years, as Mexico finished third at the 2011 U-20 World Cup, reached the knockout stage of this year's U-20 World Cup, and perhaps most famously won the 2012 London Olympics gold medal.
