On second thought, the Nigeria U17 squad might be the fan favourite at the World Cup

At least they certainly seem to bring the most fans to the stadium. The Nigeria U17 squad, who looked like a favourite to win it all pre-tournament, now also look like a crowd favourite as well, if the crowd that showed up to last night's knockout round match with Iran in Al Ain was any indication.

Nigeria's fans created a party-like atmosphere in their corner of the Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium – drumming, dancing and just generally making a lot of noise, and the Nigerians dispatched the Iranians 4-1 to punch their ticket to the last eight, where they'll face off with Uruguay on Saturday in Sharjah.

If they can get past that test and then win one more, a final featuring the 'Golden Eaglets' in Abu Dhabi would almost surely result in a raucous Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium. They already helped bring a crowd of 10,120 to Al-Rashid Stadium in Dubai when they played Iraq in the group stages on October 25, which, along with an announced crowd of the same size at the same venue between Argentina and Canada, qualifies as one of the two most well-attended games throughout the entire tournament.

As our Gary Meenaghan wrote following that Iraq match, "Clad in green and white, the majority of the 10,000-strong crowd that filled Rashid Stadium to watch Nigeria take on Iraq on Friday night sang loud, sang proud and made clear their desires."

So it was the same on Tuesday night.

Watch the video below featuring scenes from Al Ain for an idea of what a Nigeria crowd at this tournament looks and sounds like, and to get a look at the first-half goals from Samuel Okon (25th minute), Kelechi Iheanacho (25th minute) and Musa Muhammed (42nd minute).

Also take a look at the Iranian fans, who for their part stayed loud well into the second half despite the 3-0 (and later 4-0) deficit in front of them.