CHARLES D’SOUZA
MARGAO
Indian under-18 football team will be looking to continue their impressive run in international football tournaments when they begin their campaign in the Croatia Cup next month.
The India colts caught the attention of the football giants during last month Cotif Cup in Spain when they defeated South American giants Argentina 2-1 in a group match. The win over the eventful champions Argentina, was quite a hit over social media with even the federal minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore taking to twitter to praise the epoch making win in Spain.
The Indians are now looking forward to build up on the momentum and confidence gained from the win for the upcoming tournament in Croatia. In Spain, the Indian colts, who were reduced to ten-man lost Venezuela but came up with a marvellous display to beat Argentina.
Indian coach Flyod Pinto got a host of compliments from his Argentine counterpart for the win, who lavished praises on the team and added “if they can play these type of football for another three years they can give challenge to fancied teams”.
The team which is based in Goa is working hard at the SAG Artificial turf ground, Fatorda. “We played very well and kept our composure. We moved the ball quite nicely and created good opportunities. We will continue to learn from our mistakes,” Pinto said while talking to journalists after a training session. “The Cotif tournament helped us in analysing our draw backs and if we continue to play like in Spain and if we can manage to defend well, then it will increase our chances in performing better. We believe the team will face tough test against the Croatia, France and Slovenia. Our opponents are well equipped and have been playing well and it will be a tough task for our teams but I am sure that the boys will continue the same zeal which they played in Spain,” he added.
“In Croatia, we are facing super soccer teams and let’s see how the boys will cope up with the pressure in Croatia. For them it’s a learning process,” said Pinto.
Most of the boys who will tour Croatia are from the same core group which played in the Under-17 World Cup held in India last year. “For the Croatia trip most the boys are those who played for under-17 World Cup and 10 boys are on trials out of which five will be short listed and the team will playing against the ISL teams and Goan Professional League clubs before leaving to Croatia,” he informed.
The tournament will commence on September 4 to 9. The under-20 squad has the AFC under-19 qualifiers on the radar and the foreign exposure trips will help them in the build up for the continental championship. “Focus is on next year’s AFC Under-19 qualifiers and I-league; more matches and exposure are the need of hour. The more we play the better it is,” said Pinto. “We began our training in August and this seems to be a good preparation for the coming competitions and improve our last year’s I-League performance,” Pinto added.
He is assisted by former India defender Mahesh Gawli and goalkeeping coach Hammed.
