Brazil, England and New Zealand U-17 squads to train at Mumbai Football arena

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Mumbai, Sep 23: Another international team, the Under 17 New Zeland team have paved their way to Indian soil on Friday for the upcoming Under 17 World Cup tournament which will be held across six cities in India.

The team arrived here was driven to a hotel in suburban Andheri by the Mumbai District Football Association and there they will join other two international teams, Brazil and England there.

All the top three teams will play practice matches at the Mumbai Football Arena in the upcoming weeks for their preparation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup along with senior Indian team who are currently preparing there for their Asian Cup qualifier Macau second leg tie.

MFA has earlier hosted Indian Super League matches and FIFA friendlies featuring India and now will take crucial part for the preparation of these teams.

"Brazil, England and New Zealand will train and practice at the Mumbai Football Arena from September 26 for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

"Around the same time, the senior Indian team will also be practicing there for the Macau game (Asian Cup qualifier)," said Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) president Aditya Thackeray at a media conference on Friday.

The U17 teams have scheduled to play against each other at first as Brazil will play against New Zealand in a practice game on 28 September and another match will be held on October 1 between the U-17 World Cup sides of England and New Zealand, Thackrey also confirmed.

Brazil will also reportedly play against three Indian senior clubs for their preparations as per Thackrey and according to reports, they are Navy, Air India and Pune City FC.

"On September 30 Brazil wants to play against a senior Indian (club) team," he added.

Brazil have been assorted in Group D along with DPR Korea, Niger and Spain, while England are in Group F that includes Iraq, Mexico and Chile whereas New Zealand are placed in Group B along with Turkey, Paraguay and Mali.