Indian colts stamp authority with 3-0 win over Yemen

After Central Defender Harpreet Singh headed the first one in the 37th minute, two goals in two minutes immediately after resumption took the issue beyond Yemen’s reach.

While the second goal was headed in by an ice-cool Ridge Demello in the 47th minute, Rohit Danu lobbed it over the rival Goalkeeper a minute later, providing the perfect finish to a promising build-up.

Head Coach Bibiano Fernandes lauded the boys for their “fantastic display.”

“We are extremely proud of them. They came up with a superlative performance today and executed it to perfection. The tournament has helped us gauge where we stand and we go back much richer in experience,” he stated post-match.

The U-16 boys, thus finished their engagements in the tournament winning three matches and losing a close one to Japan. While the Indian colts had made short work of Jordan 4-0 in their opening encounter and accounted for current U-16 Asian Champions Iraq in the previous match by a solitary goal, they had lost lead and match to Asian powerhouses Japan 1-2 in their other match.

The tournament was part of their exposure tour organised by AIFF in conjunction with SAI as preparation for the forthcoming AFC U-16 Championship Malaysia 2018 which is to be competed among the top 16 teams in Asia.

The qualified teams in the AFC U-16 Championship have been divided into four groups of 4 teams each with the top two from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. India have been clubbed with Iran, Vietnam and Indonesia in Group C. The four semi-finalists get a direct ticket to the next edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2019.