FIFA U-17 World Cup: Mexico coach Arteaga praises India’s fighting spirit

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Bengaluru, October 11: Mexico head coach Mario Arteaga has hailed India's energetic show against Colombia in their Group A encounter in New Delhi on Monday (October 9) and said the hosts, who are playing their first World Cup at any level, can take pride in their execution.

India scored their first ever goal in a FIFA World Cup tournament when youngster Jeakson Thounaojam equalised Colombia’s lead by scoring a brilliant header from Corner, however, the Colts lost 1-2 in their second Group league match.

During the entire 90 minutes, the minnows, Men in Blue fought neck to neck with the Latin American giants and ahead of Mexico's important match against England, their coach Arteaga has suggested they were already aware of India's capabilities as they previously played India in a four-nation tournament in August as a warm up to the World Cup.

“We had the chance to have India and Mexico couple of months ago in a training camp. We were really surprised about the big level of the Indian team,” Arteaga told reporters.

“And now they are big surprise with their performance up to now. But we understand it’s like normal procedure when you are a local and have all the pressure of the country and all the excitement,” Arteaga said.

“What we have seen yesterday (Monday) is they had a great match. They had a good performance, coming back to history as the way they fought against a team that has more history (Colombia) or something but they had a great match. They must feel proud about their performance against Colombia,” the coach added.

Not only the head coach but also along with him, his player Alexis Gutierrez also opined the same thought and even claimed that India deserved the victory but lack of experience was the difference.

“Yesterday, they deserved a victory but unfortunately, they made two mistakes and Colombia took full points. But I had seen them in Mexico (last August) and was not surprised by their fighting spirit,” said the midfielder.

Mexico who drew their first match against Iraq will face a high-flying group topper England on Wednesday (October 11) who won their first match 4-0 against Chile.

Now a win for either side will take them one step ahead to the next stage of the tournament and in all probability, it surely indicates an exciting match in the Group F.