Indian football needs to take their U-17 World Cup experience seriously: Campbell

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Bengaluru, October 29: The Under 17 World Cup fever in India just ended on Sunday (October 28) with the Three Lions notching up their first ever U-17 title by thumping Spain 5-2 in the final. The tournament has gotten attention from all over the world and many legendary footballers hailed the organisers for managing a brilliant standard, crowd support as well as the quality of football.

Many footballing greats also has hailed the uprising of Indian football who fought neck-to-neck with the mighty footballing countries in the tournament. Legendary English defender Sol Campbell also applauded the side and suggested that India can step on the right path following the tournament but from here they have to improve its standard by taking some accurate steps.

Campbell, who is a member of FIFA's technical study group adviced that after the World Cup carnival, the men in blue have to maintain the development in a right way and has to keep patience to reach to the top as they are still way behind many countries in footballing aspect.

"You have to start somewhere. A lot of other countries are 50-100 years ahead of India. You need to patch up. You are on the right path, have hosted the under-17 World Cup and got exposure. A training centre is coming up in Kolkata. That will help. You have to go around the world and get more information," said Campbell.

"It will take time. It is not going to happen overnight. You need more centres, more conversations with FIFA. It is happening now and will help. You have to be mindful of how to play, how to qualify and how to win matches. The experience will make the players better."

The former English defender who played for over 20 years in Premier League and has also won the famous invincible trophy with Arsenal hailed the quality of football played here in the tournament and gave his "thumbs up" to the fantastic stadiums around the country.

"The quality is fantastic. Just looking at players, their physical condition is so good and that's down to coaches around the world. Even 10 or 15 years ago, only few countries were doing it properly. That's an improvement. Today, the level of skill, knowledge of the game and tactics have gone up a few notches."