By John  Egbokhan reporting from United Arab Emirates

We’ve recovered from Eaglets nightmare— Mexico

2011 champions Mexico Tuesday bounced back to reckoning in the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates with a 3-1 win over Iraq at the Kalifa Ben Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.

After their scandalous 6-1 defeat against three-time winners Golden Eaglets on Saturday, the junior Ticos knew that anything short of a victory against the Iraqis would leave them facing the exit door in the first round of the tournament.

Hurting from the brushing loss to the Nigerians, the Mexicans came into yesterday’s match with extra determination to not only win but pump in goals to do themselves a world of good should the progress to the second round come down to goals difference.

After some spirited play by the Iraqis, the junior Ticos finally got the break they so much craved for in the 31st minute when Alejandro Daz beat his marker to net the opener to set the tiny but vociferous Mexican fans contingent into wild jubilations.

And they later doubled their lead one minute from half time off an expertly taken shot by Jose Almanza.

But Iray pegged back the lead to a single digit through Sherko Karim in the 61st , only for Ulises Rivas to restore Mexico’s two-goal advantage, with a superb strike sixth muntes from regulation time.
Mexico now have three points from two matches and go into their final game against Sweden with a determination to bag another three points to help them progress to the second round.

We’ve recovered from Eaglets nightmare— Mexico

Mexico’s coach Raul Gutterrez said that his team had recovered from their depressing opening 6-1 rout in the hands of the Golden Eaglets.

Speaking to reporters, Gotterrez said that the defeat to the Nigerians came as a huge blow to the Junior Ticos, who won the 2011 edition, adding that it made them to run a deep assessment on what caused their flop against the three-time champions from West Africa.

Gutterrez said that based on his team’s performance against Iraq that it was heart-warming that they had learnt lessons from their past, adding that the plan was to go on and record another win in their last group F match against Sweden on Friday.

“I am happy with this win because we have recovered our confidence after the loss to the Nigerians. For us to recover from the setback against Nigeria, we had to analyse our performance and today(yesterday) we showed that champions can truly bounce back after a bad start.

“We have to keep the pace by showing greater zeal in our next match against Sweden. The Nigerian match was an eye-opener for us and we are happy that we have bounced back from the nightmare”, added Gutterrez.