World Cup football debutants India lose 0-3 to USA in FIFA Under-17 opener at Nehru Stadium, New Delhi
The stage was set for India's historic debut in World Cup football. But the Indian colts could not live up to expectations and lost the opening match of their U-17 World Cup campaign to the Americans 0-3.
India forward Aniket Jadhav (left) and USA’s Chris Gloster vie for the ball during the FIFA U-17 World Cup tie yesterday. Pic/AFP
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Komal Thatal could have been the first goal-scorer for India in a World Cup, but his attempted chip went over the bar. Later, Anwar Ali's shot kissed the bar and USA showed tremendous speed and precision to get their third goal through a quick counter attack with the return-ball – "a punishment goal" as far as the Indian coach Luis Norton De Matos is concerned.
The Indians started well, though. For the first 20 odd minutes, there was only a moment in the fifth minute of the match when US captain Josh Sargent got the Indian goalkeeper Dheeraj Moirangthem alone in front of him. But his shot hit Dheeraj's chest and bounced back. However, Sargent did not make the same mistake again, forcing Dheeraj to dive to his left while he placed his shot to the right corner of the goal to make it 1-0. de Matos later slammed his team for, "conceding a stupid goal." This changed the course of the match.
Right back Jitendra Singh had a nervous start to his World Cup campaign. Without pressure, he tried to pass the ball to his teammates twice, but ball went out of the sidelines. At the stroke of 30 minutes, he had a clumsy foul on the US captain who, being an experienced footballer from the U-20 World Cup, made most out of it and the Bolivian referee Gery Vargas pointed to the spot.
India's coach was worried about America's counter attack was evident when the team list was made available. His chosen formation was 3-6-1 with only No 10 Abhijit Sarkar being the lone striker. His opponents started with 4-3-3. de Matos wanted to overcrowd the midfield with six men, forming a second line of a three-member defence in front of his three defenders. But the US footballers were quick in their counters and used the flanks to find gaps to deliver the ball to their forwards in dangerous positions.
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