It's back to the pitch for India U-17 boys

Bengaluru, October 19: It's not even been a week since the India Under-17 team crashed out of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup being held in India. Yet, coach Luis Norton de Matos says it's not the time to rest as the Indians reassembled in Delhi to train ahead of their AFC Under-19 Championship qualifying round in Saudi Arabia early next month.

The Portuguese coach has recalled 12 of his 21-member team to Delhi for a short camp. Goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh and defender Anwar Ali joined the camp at the Capital on Thursday (October 19) while the others flew earlier. After a seven-day camp, the team will depart for Qatar, where they will take on their Under-19 side in a friendly on October 28. They will then travel to Saudi Arabia for their qualifiers from November 4. India are placed in Group D along with the hosts, Yemen and Turkmenistan.

"The players went home for a brief period and maybe some more rest would have been good because the World Cup is the highest level of competition. But, up next is Qatar and then we have to go Saudi Arabia for the qualifiers. We cannot shy away from competition otherwise we will not stand a chance in making it to the AFC Championship," Matos told reporters on the sidelines of a training session on Thursday (October 19).

Bengaluru's Hendry Antonay has been left out of the squad, while defender Sanjeev Stalin flew to Delhi on Tuesday. De Matos revealed that the objective of the week-long camp in Delhi was to get the boys back into a competitive mood.

"Results at the AFC qualifiers are important, but it is also important that the boys get a taste of competition at this level. All the teams we will play are tough teams, and this is the process that needs to continue for improvement," de Matos added.