U 17 World Cup: India upbeat as countdown nears the end

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Bengaluru, September 27: With just nine days to go for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup kick off, the mood in the Indian camp is quite upbeat.

India, who are making their debut in the competition are drawn in Group A long with USA, Ghana and Columbia and they play all their matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

The hosts take on the US in the lung opener on the opening day of the competition.
They than face Colombia on October 9 and wind up their group engagements on October 12 against Ghana.

Coach Luis Norton de Matos feels the team is ready to give their best.

"I'm very confident of doing well with this team. Victory will be our target in each and every game, I hope we are proud of our performance, our intensity," De Matos said while addressing a press conference in the national capital where the country expressed its interest to bid for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2019.

Last week, the former Portuguese national player announced a 21-member squad to be led by Amarjit Singh for FIFA's biennial showpiece.

The build up to the tournament has been pretty good as India played a four-nation tournament in Mexico featuring strong teams like Chile and Columbia in addition to the hosts.

Though they lost 1-5 and 0-3 to Mexico and Colombia respectively, they held Chile 1-1, a result which gave them a lot of confidence.

"This is possibly the strongest team India could have fielded at this World Cup. The players are motivated and ready," said de Matos.

The Indians also beat Mauritius 3-0 in a friendly game in Goa last week, which was their final preparatory game before the World Cup.

Asked whether his wards were ready for the big occasion, pat came the reply.

"In football there are no impossibilities and we will enter the field like lions to try and win the game."