FIFA U-17 WC: Coach Luis Norton de Matos opens up on Komal Thatal’s absence after first match

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New Delhi, Oct 13: India's participation in their first ever World Cup tournament as a host country ended last night as the Men in Blue suffered yet another defeat in the hands of mighty Ghana.

The young kids played with their heart and soul to fight neck to neck with some of the footballing giants throughout the tournament, however, the journey finally ended last night.

Many youngsters among this team already have caught the attention of the whole nation and reportedly many scouts from all over the world have inquired about some of our youngsters.

However, among all of them, Komal Thatal the young boy from Sikkim got the attention of the supporter and media mostly after a report emerged that English giants Manchester United are eager to take the footballer on the trail and scout him throughout the tournament.

The star of the Indian team is the leading scorer of the U-17 team with nine goals and grabbed the limelight when he scored a superb goal against mighty Brazil in BRICS cup earlier.

However, the blond hair teenager was only given a solo chance in the first match in the tournament against the USA where also he showed promise with silky skills and movement - although the end product was missing.

This took many fans by surprise who questioned the Indian coach's tactics and many fans claimed there might be an internal issue between the player and manager after the first match which kept him sidelined for the rest of the tournament.

However, after their 4-0 drubbing against Ghana, head coach Matos has blasted all such media reports and claimed that benching Komal for the remaining matches was only a tactical decision and also suggested Komal's lack of physicality is the reason behind such exclusion.

Matos said: “You want to talk about individual players but for me, the team is collective. If you think Komal was the perfect player to win duels against physically strong teams like Colombia and Ghana, then you are a very good coach!”

"After two hard games, it was complicated to play a side like Ghana.

"Our team was finished physically by first 45 minutes. There was no energy left in them to match that pace in the second half. If they had to play one more match, they couldn't have played as they didn't have any energy left."

Indian conceded nine goals throughout the tournament and failed to grab a single point in three group matches.

However, that being said, players like Dheeraj Singh, Anwar Ali, Komal Thatal, Ninthoinganba Meetei along with all the other teenagers made a cricket crazy nation scream their lungs out for a bunch of youngsters whom they hardly ever noticed before the tournament.

And besides, they made us believe that with proper infrastructure, grooming and guidance these footballers can make it to the big stage and become one for the future of our country.

So if we look at the tournament there is so much positivity among all the other aspects and we can only hope for a brighter future with these bunch of lads which AIFF now have to take care of.