The 21-member Indian squad to take part in FIFA U-17 World Cup has been announced. Among the 21 players, 12 were part of the AFC U-16 Championship squad that represented India in the 2016 edition in Goa. India have been drawn in Group A alongside USA, Colombia and Ghana, and will face USA on October 6, followed by Colombia and Ghana on October 9 and October 12 respectively at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
The head coach of India, Luis Norton de Matos is quite confident about his team. “We believe that we are prepared for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. We will fight to win each match even if there is only five percent chance of winning. We will not give up and nothing is impossible in football”, Mantos said.
SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Dheeraj Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill, Sunny Dhaliwal
DEFENDERS: Boris Singh, Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Sanjeev Stalin, Hendry Antonay, Namit Deshpande
MIDFIELDERS: Suresh Singh, Ninthoinganba Meetei, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Abhijit Sarkar, Komal Thatal, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Nongdamba Naorem, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Md. Shahjahan
FORWARDS: Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav
Following the U-17 World Cup draw in Mumbai in July, the team played an invitational tournament in Mexico, where they were defeated 5-0 by the Mexico U-17 team and 3-0 by Colombia U-17. They did finish the tour with a 1-1 draw against Chile U-17, though. Recently, Matos declined an invitation from the Mali U-17 team, runners-up at the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile, and chose to face Mauritius U-17 instead in Goa on Thursday. India won the game 3-0, with Boris Singh and Aniket Jadhav both among India’s scorers on the night.
