It is often said that one of the keys to succeeding in life is to have self-belief. As far as football is concerned, another pre-requisite would be to have talented players and a coach capable of moulding them into a solid and tight-knit group. If those pieces fall into place and the timing is right, then a team's chances of success increase exponentially.

Such is the situation Colombia find themselves in as they prepare to get their campaign underway at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Korea 2007. Coached by Eduardo Lara, the same man who steered the Cafeteros to fourth spot at Finland 2003, the South Americans look to have all the qualities needed to go one step further and secure a medal in Asia.

"Our goal is to finish on the podium and improve on what we did in 2003. The players are going into the tournament with that mindset and we'll all be striving to achieve that," Lara has said repeatedly. This unshakeable self-confidence was doubtless one of the factors in Colombia's impressive feat of finishing runners-up to Brazil at the South American U-17 Championship in Ecuador last March. "The boys showed their maturity on that occasion, but they'll have to demonstrate it again at the World Cup if they want to go far," says the coach.

"In fact," adds Lara, "I told them at the time that winning the Sudamericano seemed harder that winning the World Cup, because to be sure of a place in the final group, you need to win six games, and to win it outright you might need to win nine. And all that playing every two days. At the World Cup it's every three days, which gives you more time to recover."

Extensive preparations
By way of preparation for Korea 2007, Colombia organised a series of friendlies against teams also competing at the finals, playing for the most part away from home. And though they got off to a shaky start, losing at home to Honduras (0-2), they got back on track in Peru, where they finished unbeaten in two meeting with the locals (0-0 in Lima and 4-2 in Trujillo). They then wound up their preparations with a draw in Costa Rica (0-0) before going down to Spain in Madrid (0-1).

"We drew some very important conclusions. In Trujillo, for example, we defeated Peru in front of 30,000 partisan supporters. Against Spain, the European champions, we kept our shape throughout the game, even when reduced to ten men. On the downside, we failed to put away the chances we created and handed them the winner through a defensive error. It will all help us improve, though," insists the coach.

Likewise, Lara was taking some positives from his team's performance at the recent Pan American games in Rio de Janeiro, where Colombia exited at the group stage. "What was important was remaining unbeaten against Argentina or Haiti, who also used their U-17 sides at the tournament."

The Cafeteros have been drawn in Group F and will make their debut against Germany on 20 August in Cheonan, where they will also face Trinidad and Tobago three days later. Their final group game, on the 26 th, will pit them against Ghana in Ulsan. Asked about his group opponents, Lara had this to say: "The Germans are a very European side - physically very strong with a lot of options in attack. With that being our first game, we can expect the usual opening-day nerves. The T&T players are more athletic and have brought on many aspects of their game, so we can't take anything for granted their either. As for the African sides, they always prove a handful in this category."

So will Colombia realize their dream and claim a podium place in Korea? Lara is convinced they will, but not to the point of over-confidence: "We've worked towards this and we have great players. However, it's important we face this challenge with the utmost seriousness."