India crashes out from U17 WC with heads held high

by Chittu Shetty October 13, 2017

A spirited Indian side went down fighting as they crash out of FIFA U17 World Cup in a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Ghana at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi

Prior to the kick-off, India needed at least a 2-0 win to stay alive as their hope of qualifying were also depended on USA vs Colombia’s result, whereas, Ghana were looking for their second win after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of USA.

Colombia caused a major upset after defeating the USA 3-1 at the DY Patil Stadium, booking their place in the next round along with Ghana and the USA itself. At the JLN Stadium, India started off brightly as they threatened the Black Starlets with their typical free-flowing attack. But Matos’ boys soon ran out of gas in front of a pacy Ghanaian side.

Ghana soon increased their match tempo and opened the scoring at the half-an-hour mark after a brilliant ball across the goal by Sadiq Ibrahim. Physically and Mentally, India were done and dusted in the first-half itself, which is quite understandable after two gritty performances against the USA and Ghana respectively.

Also Read: Matos: “Never talk about individual players, football is a collective game.”

Ghana carried their first-half form to the second-half completely dominated a tired Indian side. Captain Eric Ayiah doubled Ghana’s lead before Danso and Toku scored one each to increase their lead by four goals. One positive take away from the match was JLN’s crowd who backed the team throughout the match which kept the atmosphere electrifying just like the previous matches.

At the final whistle, there were tears flowing down from this young Indian side but nonetheless, the whole stadium applauded each and everyone who were part of this historical team.

As of now, no one knows when will be the next time an Indian side would be playing a FIFA event but it is for sure that the U17 World Cup performance has surely etched in the hearts of 1.3 billion people.