Football fever grips city

The Fifa U-17 World Cup football fever has started in all of India and Mumbai is basking in the build up too. The DY Patil stadium in Nerul will host eight World Cup games, including group B ones of New Zealand, Turkey, Mali and Paraguay. The city is also set to host ripper of a group A game between US and Colombia on October 12, besides a round of 16 game and a semi-final. 

New Zealand will start their proceedings with Turkey on October 6 here. The Kiwis, who arrived here on Friday, have selected Mumbai Football Arena (MFA) at Andheri Sports Complex as their training venue. They are also set to play two practice games against three-time champions Brazil on September 28, and England on October 1. Both games will start at 5 pm and will be free to all, according to organisers Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA).

Even though Brazil and England will not be playing any league game in the city, they too have selected MFA as the training venue, which according to MDFA president Aaditya Thackeray is a “matter of pride” for them.

MFA in fact wasn’t even used as a local football venue until its transformation by the Thackeray-led team, and has now hosted five international games since September last year. It is also set to host yet another senior national camp from September 28 to October 8, as Stephen Constantine will prepare his team for the AFC Asian Cup qualifier game against Macau in Bengaluru.

“Starting from September 26 onwards, we will have four teams training at Mumbai Football Arena. It includes three U-17 teams — Brazil, England and New Zealand, plus the Indian senior team from September 28. We will have many stars like Vinícius Júnior of Brazil training and playing,” Thackeray said.

The 16-year-old Vinícius, who has had just one senior appearance for Brazilian club Flamengo was recently signed by UEFA Champions League champions Real Madrid for £39.6m. Although Vinícius is currently training with Real Madrid, MDFA officials expect he has to be released by the club at least a week pior to the World Cup according to Fifa norms. That done, he could make it to MFA for the Brazil versus New Zealand game on September 28, which could be more sought after than the actual World Cup games in the city given that India isn’t playing league games here.

Brazil, who will start training here from September 26, may also play another friendly against one local team on September 30. Indian Navy, Air India and FC Pune City have been shortlisted for the game, and have been told by the organisers to keep their teams ready in case Brazil want another practice game in the city.

Ticketing
Meanwhile, the kiosk for physical tickets has been opened at Cooperage Football ground and at MDFA headquarters in St. Xavier’s ground. One more is set to open at Mumbai Football Arena. The physical kiosks will encourage group bookings and some ticket prices costing '300 and '150 earlier have been reduced to half for group bookings. The online tickets for individual bookings as well are available at Kyazoonga.com. 

“The response is good. We are getting requests from embassies and many schools. This is a World Cup, and there will be no (free) passes for World Cup U17 games. The training games at Mumbai Football Arena will have the status of international friendly and will be free to all,” MDFA president Aditya Thackeray said.

Maharashtra flavour in Indian U17 squad

Kolhapur boy Aniket Jadhav is the lone face from Maharashtra in the 21-player squad that has been selected as the first ever Indian one to participate in a Fifa U-17 World Cup. Jadhav will perform striker duties along with Rahim Ali. 

Two NRIs, Namit Deshpande and Sunny Dhaliwal, have been also named in the team by head coach Luis Norton de Matos. Deshpande, a US national, has roots in Maharashtra and holds a valid Indian passport.

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.