India’s U-17 chief football coach Luis Norton de Matos has said the 1-1 draw with Chile in a recent four-nation tournament showed that it was possible to achieve success in the upcoming Fifa World Cup. The Indian colts came from a goal down to hold Chile after being reduced to 10 men in Mexico City.
“Chile are one of the best teams in South America and it was a very important result for us,” Matos said. “It showed that despite having started far away from the objective of the tournament in relation to other teams, it is possible for us to achieve success.”
Chile had taken the lead in the 40th minute but Nongdamba Naorem’s 82nd-minute strike equalised proceedings. Shortly after, Aniket was sent off in the 84th minute. Despite being, a man down India colts pressed for the decisive goal but could not find any as the full-time scoreline read 1-1.
“It is fundamental to believe in the process of practising, maintaining their humility, enduring sacrifice and at the same time being fearless of facing any team in the world.“But there is still a long way to go and we will keep working hard,” Matos said.
“I was very satisfied in seeing the team play at various times during the matches we had in the four-nation tournament. We played like equals against better teams in the tournament.” The coach of the Chile U-17 side, Hernan Caputto also showered praise on the playing style of the India colts.
“India are a team who will compete and will make their country proud, you can tell there is a lot of work from Luis and what he has achieved with the players,” Caputto said. India are drawn in Group A of the U-17 World Cup along with USA, Colombia and Ghana.
