MARGAO
The Indian Under 17 World Cup squad lost to FC Goa development side 1-0 in a friendly match at Utorda grounds on Saturday.
Both the team coaches Luis Norton Matos and his counterpart at FC Goa Derrick Pereira exchanged pleasentries and shook hands and spoke for a few minutes as the Indian U-17 squad played their third friendly match on home soil ahead of next month's World Cup.
The Indian colts pressed hard for the opening goal and frequently raided the rival citadel, however FC Goa showed composure and held possession as the Indian players were scurrying around them.The Indian under 17 squad punched holes into the FC Goa defence but lack of finishing seemed to undo them.
Aniket Jadhav and Komal Thotal were in their elements. However they created chances with Komal Thotal once hitting the cross bar and drawing a fine save from Iprotip Das. At the other end, FC Goa had a couple of scoring chances when Liston Colaco's shot hit the post off Melwin D'Silva. The teams left for the breather with the slate still blank.
Post resumption, FC Goa exposed the Indian team from the set-piece as promising midfielder Hayden Fernandes headed home off a neat flag-kick by Leander D'Cunha in the 53rd minute.
Stung by that setback, the Indian players at times looked to be dribbling too often than passing and assistant coach Hugo could be seen expressing his disapproval and wishing that his boys would pass the ball instead.
The latter half of the second half saw India create a host of chances thanks to a number of substitutions but
the equalizer eluded them.
