After SAFF Win, The Indian U-15 team set to travel Turkey for friendlies

by Rounak Majumdar September 6, 2019

The U15 Indian football team emerged victorious in the SAFF U-15 championship recently. The team scored a humongous 28 goals from 5 matches.

After a dominant campaign in West Bengal, Head Coach Bibiano Fernandes looks forward to the AFC U16 championship qualification now. The Blue Colts will be travelling to Turkey for a couple of friendly games.

“The boys are as ready as they were before the SAFF Championship began. As I have said before this is all a part of the process, and the final target is, of course, the AFC Qualifiers. So you mustn’t take any match or any tour lightly and as a team. You are always prepared and ready,” said Fernandes.

“The first thing I did after the SAFF victory is to remind the boys that we still haven’t achieved our target yet,” he continued. “Even the boys know that our target is to qualify for the AFC U-16 Championship and therefore the team has already set our eyes forward. Yes, the boys deserved to celebrate the SAFF victory and we did so, but now we are already back on track.”

With the next target being AFC Asian Cup U-16, the young side is preparing to play against Keciorengucu FC on September 9, followed by a match against Fenerbahce FC on September 11. Fernandes is affirmative about the fact that playing the age group traditional teams of Turkey will prepare the boys better for the task in hand.

“It will be a different and tougher challenge. We had played the Besiktas Youth team the last time we were in Turkey with the previous batch, and we know very well how good the Turkish players are technical. We are doing a bit of homework about the opposition but at the same time, we will be focusing more on playing to our strengths,” he claimed.

The U-15 men’s football team Head Coach, Bibiano Fernandes concluded by saying, “I really believe it will be very helpful for our preparations for the AFC Qualifiers. To compete and hopefully win against some really good European opposition just prior to a tournament as important as the AFC Qualifier will go a long way in boosting the players’ self-confidence,”

The India U-15 side is set to play the two friendlies against Keciorengucu FC and Fenerbahce FC, before heading to Uzbekistan for their AFC U-16 Championship qualification campaign, where they lock horns against Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

CREDITS: AIFF Media

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