With less than nine days to go for India U-17s to clash swords against the United States of America (USA) in the first ever FIFA World Cup hosted by India, the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 India, the Indian Colts had their first training session ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Luis Norton de Matos at the Conscient Football ground in Gurugram, Haryana today.
Head Coach Luis Norton Matos emphasized on tactical training along with focus on set pieces amongst other technical matters. Meanwhile, morale and spirits are at an all time high in the Indian camp with the young colts registering a 3-0 win over Mauritius in a practice match held in Goa earlier.
With the players about to make history for Indian football in less than a fortnight, excitement was palpable on the training pitch. The players could be seen all ears to Matos's commands as he guided them through drills.
"A unique moment is upon us", said Matos. "It is an amazing moment in Indian Football's history and everyone associated with it should be proud of it."
India is in Group A of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 with USA, Colombia and Ghana. And, incidentally Colombia, the first team to arrive in the nation for the FIFA World Cup, are practising at the same training ground as India.
The Indian Colts face USA on October 6, before locking horns with Colombia and Ghana on October 9 and October 12 respectively at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The kick-off for all matches is at IST 8 p.m.
"The FIFA U-17 World Cup is a very big moment for every player as they will all become heroes. They will become the first Indian players to be part of a FIFA World Cup," Mato said.
"These players will inspire generations to come, they will motivate posterity and that in itself is a victory", he added.
In an effort to field a strong team, the AIFF has provided exposure trips to the India U-17s wherein the colts went to play club teams and national team of Europe including that of Benfica, Serbia and Macedonia.
The India U-17s also participated in a Four-Nation Tournament in Mexico alongside hosts Mexico, Chile and fellow Group A team Colombia.
Mato said that the level of enthusiasm in the camp is very high, and the team have shown exponential growth in the last couple of months.
"We plan to show the world that we are on the same page as the rest of the teams in the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 India." Mato said, and added that Indian team is ready and raring to go and create history.
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