India is gearing up for the biggest footballing festival that this country has ever witnessed. While the ministry and the government are working hard to promote the event within the country and to get as many people hooked onto it as possible, the young Indian team is touring the world in order to get some much needed match practice before the mega event.
The U-17 Indian team was touring Mexico, participating in a four-nation tournament.
The final match against Chile proved to be a brilliant one for the Indian side, as a spirited defensive and counter-attacking dispaly earned them a hard-fought draw.
Chile opened the scoring in the 40th minute, as the Indian defence failed to clear its lines. Chile romped up the attack in the second half, but the Indian defence was stout all through.
And in the final 10 minutes, India managed to thread their way through, and somehow snatch away a draw from Chile.
Chile finished runners up to Brazil in the U-17 South American Championships, and thus this draw speaks volumes about the level of play of India’s U-17 lads.
The Indian colts would be hoping to draw a lot of inspiration from this stellar performance against Chile. Hopefully the home crowd could inspire the youngsters to go deep into the tournament.
It was not all smooth sailing for India in this 4 nation tournament though, as Mexico(5-1) and Colombia(3-0) handed them a drubbing.
The Indian colts are now on their way back to India, and will train in an extensive camp under the Indian coach Luis Norton De Matos.
The U-17 World Cup is scheduled to begin on the 6th of October.
