GREATS SET ON INDIA VISIT IN UNDER-17 CUP COUNTDOWN

New Delhi: French World Cup winner Marcel Desailly, Colombian great Carlos Valderrama and Spain’s Fernando Morientes, among others, will be part of the trophy experience on September 6 in Mumbai to mark 30 days to the start of the U-17 Fifa World Cup. Jorge Campos and Emmanuel Amuneke are the other two to visit the country. India earlier hosted Carles Puyol, Esteban Cambiasso and Nwankwo Kanu as part of the lead-up to the tournament. The legends will take part in the Mumbai leg of the trophy experience and will play in an exhibition match at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai to celebrate what is poised to be the biggest football tournament in India’s history. An icon of Colombian and South American football, Valderrama, ‘El Pibe’, played in three editions of the World Cup in a decorated career spanning more than two decades. Morientes featured in two editions of the World Cup for Spain and is fondly remembered for his three Uefa Champions League trophies with Real Madrid. Desailly was part of the French side that won the 1998 Fifa World Cup and went on to captain Les Bleus to two Fifa Confederations Cup titles in 2001 and 2003, winning numerous other trophies along the way. “The U-17 World Cup will be a milestone in the history of football,” said Valderrama. “I look forward to joining the trophy experience, which will bring the excitement of this event closer to Indian fans.”