Indian U-17 football team earn praise
A sign of things to come, tweets Abhishek Bachchan after team beats Italy 2-0 in a friendly match
Congratulatory messages poured in from all over the country for the Indian U-17 football team as they stunned their Italy counterparts 2-0 yesterday in Arizo, Italy. The match was part of an exposure trip in an effort to field a competitive team for the Fifa U-17 World Cup, scheduled to kick off later this year.
Strikes by Abhijit Sarkar and Rahul Praveen led the Indian U-17 World Cup team to a massive win over the ‘Azzuri’ in a match largely dominated by the Indian Colts in terms of possession and chances created.
Vijay Goel, Minister of State, Youth Affairs & Sports took to social media. “Great day! #India U-17 #football team defeats #Italy 2-0! Well done boys, proud of you all!”
Praful Patel, President, All India Football Federation pats on the boys’ shoulders and surely his words would instill more vigour among them. “First entering the 100 club & now India’s U-17 Team beats Italy’s U-17 Football Team. Way to go @IndianFootball #FIFAU17WC”
Virender Sehwag, former Indian opener, took up the opportunity to praise the boys as well. “Yaay! We have beaten Italy. Congratulations to the under 17 @IndianFootball on the spectacular victory. Italy ki idli ban gayi!”
Bollywood was also quick to eulogise the colts who pulled off the heroics last night. Abhishek Bachchan, an ardent football fan, symbolised this victory as “a sign of things to come”.
“Many congratulations to our Indian U-17 boys football team who beat Italy 2:0 today. Hope this is a sign of things to come. #BleedBlue”
Stephen Constantine praised the entire team for the victory against the Azzurri. “Great result — lads well done to the entire team”, was what he tweeted yesterday following the 2-0 victory.
In the match against Italy, the Indian boys dominated possession for a major part of the game and created more chances. The Indians were stronger off the blocks gave the hosts a tough time early on.
Komal Thatal’s eighth minute strike almost beat the Italian custodian. In the 31st minute however, Sarkar’s cross took a wicked deflection off the Italian defence line and ended up in the back of the opposition net to give India the lead.
Scoring chances every now and then for the Indians and they made their domination count in the 80th minute when Rahul scored from inside the Italian penalty box.