Colombia test for India in U-17 World Cup

But in the 51 minute, DC United’s Chris Durkin gave the United States a comfortable 2-0 lead when he took advantage of a bad touch on an attempted Indian clearance off a corner kick and unleashed a shot that took a deflection but beat Moirangthem regardless. You need to play according to your strength and for us, the biggest strength is our organization. “We are banking on our fans”, Matos added. It feels great to be supported.

U.S. coach John Hackworth, too, was not pleased with his team’s performance, but praised the Indians for their spirit and tenacity. They are also the most successful team in the age group with five Under 17 WC titles. The third place match will take place on the same day as the Final on October 28, at Kolkata’s iconic Salt Lake Stadium. “The strength of the Indian team is their collective ability to play football as a combined unit and we bank on that factor to help us win against Colombia”. However Ghana defence will be tested by the U.S. as their strikers look very incisive Josh Sargent, who is set to join Bundesliga side Werder Bremen next year, Chris Durkin and Andre Carleton are their spearheads.

The under-17 Indian football team consists of 10 members from Northeastern region of India, which has had a long history of producing quality football players for the Indian team. We have two different solutions and we will work very hard on this.

Defending champions Nigeria will be unable to defend their title as they failed to qualify. “My feeling is that, and from information I’ve heard, there’s going to be a loud crowd”, Hackworth said.

The U-17 World Cup, which will feature 24 teams, is the first Federation Internationale de Football Association event in any age group to be held in India.

Miracles are not expected of the side but a competitive display will be one of Norton de Matos’ primary aims. We also have Boris who has a lot of stamina. “But this is something that starts at the grassroots and can not be corrected very fast”, he said.

“I am satisfied with the collective performance of the boys but definitely I am not happy with the result”, he said at the post-match presser. We wanted to get to half-time 0-0 or with the lead.

That much-hyped first step is done.

“I’m sure that they’ll be fighting until the last second of the match”. Indian footballers have participated in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. To not lose their heads.

“We’re well organised right now and we have to be apt on that to swing it in our way”.

Matos has already maintained that he wants to show the world that “the Indian team is as organized as the rest of the world and if we can show the world that we too can play football, it would be even better”.