Indian colts blank Yemen 3-0, end tournament on high

NEW DELHI: Dishing out yet another impressive performance, the Indian football team routed Yemen 3-0 to end the five-nation WAFF U-16 Championship on a high in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday.

After central defender Harpreet Singh headed the first one in the 37th minute, two goals in two minutes immediately after resumption took the issue beyond Yemen’s reach. While the second goal was headed in by an ice-cool Ridge Demello in the 47th minute, Rohit Danu lobbed it over the rival goalkeeper a minute later, providing the perfect finish to a promising build-up. Head coach Bibiano Fernandes lauded the boys for their “fantastic display”.

“We are extremely proud of them. They came up with a superlative performance today and executed it to perfection. The tournament has helped us gauge where we stand and we go back much richer in experience,” Fernandes said after the match.

The U-16 boys, thus finished their engagements in the tournament winning three matches and losing a close one to Japan.

The Indian colts had made short work of Jordan 4-0 in their opening encounter and accounted for current U-16 Asian Champions Iraq in the previous match by a solitary goal. They had lost 1-2 to Asian powerhouses Japan in their other match.

The tournament was part of their exposure tour organised by AIFF in conjunction with SAI as preparation for the forthcoming AFC U-16 Championship in Malaysia, where top 16 Asian teams will compete. The teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each with the top two from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.