LAGOS, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Soccer fans at the northern Nigeria's Kano State center of the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup are routing for Spain and the United States, as the matches begin on Monday.

    Malawi and UAE are the other teams in Group E in Kano.

    Some of the fans said they hoped to see some of the stars in the Spanish team as well as the U.S. squad.

    The fans, however, decried the tight security around the teams, especially at the training sessions.

    They said they particularly looked out for Barcelona star, March Muniesa and Atletico Madrid duo of Jorge Rusurreccion and Borja Gonzales, all in the Spanish squad.

    The presence of Iker Munian of Atletico Bilbao in the Spanish team also excited the fans at the training session.

    Some followers of the Spanish La Liga expressed the desire to watch the stars at their training.

    Babale Ali said he wanted to see the U.S. in training considering their clean record in the tournament.

    "The U.S. is the only team that has qualified for all the FIFA U-17 tournaments since inception and I wish they excite us with good football here," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying.

    Another fan, Musa Danbaba, said security for the players and officials is important.