With the last spot guaranteed, India went into the game to salvage some pride going up against one of the power house of world football, Brazil. Hosts India produced a spirited fight before losing 1-3 to tournaments favorites Brazil in their last match of the BRICS U-17 football tournament in Bambolim on Friday.

It looked like another Brazil Dominating affair, when in the second minute of the match Brazil went 1-0 up through Silva’s powerful shot from outside the box defeating the Indian keeper.

With a goal down, the Indian colts started attacking with intent in search of an equalizer and were soon rewarded when in the 19^th minute, Indian forward Komal Thatal dribbling past two defender curled shot from the left flank in to the net as the score went 1-1. But India’s joy was soon cut short with Brazil regaining the lead at half hour mark through Marcos Santos’s strike.

A minute later, India were soon denied a penalty appeal when Komal was brought down inside the Brazilian box. The Indian colts picked themselves up as the match progressed and went in to the break trailing Brazil 1-2.

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Second half started with the ball mostly seeing the midfield.  In the 66th minute, India colts had a golden chance when substitute Joysana Singh got clear off his marker and burst onto goal cutting inside the Brazil box, Joysana instead of going for a shoot, he tried to find an onrushing Aman Chetri but with a weak pass was easily intercepted by Brazilian defence as the chance went abegging.

Ten minutes later, Joysana Singh tried a shot from outside the box but it went inches wide. In the 82nd minute, on the counter Brazil once again scored through Oliviera to make it 3-1 and finish off the match.

In the earlier game between, South Africa stunned Russia, defeating 3-1 to take on Brazil in the final. Lyle Foster, Mswati Mavuso and Luke Le Roux Scored for South Africa, while Skrobotov Ilia scored for the Russia. Russia will now meet fourth placed China for a third place playoff match on October 15^th, while South Africa face Brazil on the same day.

Scores:

India U16 1 (Komal Thatal 19’) – 3 Brazil U16 (Silva 2’, Santos 30’, Oliviera 82’)

South Africa U16 3 (Lyle Foster 19’, Mswati Mavuso 54’, Luke Le Roux 82’) -1 Russia U16 (Skrobotov Ilia 45+1’)

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Having lost all three games, India are at the bottom of the Group with zero points, while China moved to fourth after four points thanks to a draw against South Africa and a win against the home side. India now play Brazil in the last game of the group stage in what will be the last outing for the home team in the first ever BRICS tournament.

The game started with both teams playing it cautiously, a win over one another would have ensured a high probability for the winning side to get a game for the third place playoff. In the 21^st minute, India were presented with an golden opportunity thanks to a Boris pass that found Komal Thatal at the edge of the Chinese box. But the Indian forward’s lob ball was a little too high as it fail to go inside the net.

On the other hand, china came close to scoring through a free kick in the 28^th minute, which was dodged away for a corner by Indian goalkeeper Dheeraj. The first half ended at 0-0 as neither team managed any good attacking move.

Early in the second half, Dheeraj came to India’s rescue, when he twice denied the Chinese colts from close range. Looking for that decisive goal, Indian Coach Nicolai Adams brought in fresh legs with Narendar coming in for Aniket Jadhav. Indian colts repeatedly forayed in to the opponent’s box with numerous chances on goal but couldn’t manage to break the Chinese defence.

In the final moments of Injury time, the Chinese managed to sneek in a goal through Huang Cong, as India suffered their third 1-0 defeat of the tournament. In the other game of the day, Brazil hammered South Africa 3-0.

The Indian team is now bottom placed with zero points in its pocket and will now face Table toppers Brazil on 13^th in the final group game of the tournament.

Scores:

India U16 0 – 1 China U16 (Huang Cong 90+6’)

Brazil U16 3 (Rodrigo Bertalia 7^’, Leanardo Alves 75’, Jose oliveira 82’) – 0 South Africa U16

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The game witnessed an end-to-end contest, with both teams creating numerous chances in the first half an hour. But it was South Africa that went ahead midway through the first half with a brilliant header from Radzilani to a foster’s cross that gave Indian custodian Dheeraj no chance.

India went close number of times, around 40^th minute Komal and Sanjeev smartly opened up space in the middle before laying the ball off to Aniket, who beat his marker, dribbled past a couple of challenges before taking a shot that got blocked out for a corner.

With South Africa putting plenty of last minutes tackles India failed to take the lead and went into the break trailing by a goal.

Off the pitch, while the broadcasting quality of the tournament has been criticized, lack of sensibility was visible among the TV presenter at the ground as we saw India coach Nicolai Adams giving Interviews at the break instead of motivating his team in the dugout.

India dominated in the start of the second half as well, with Aman Chhetri nearly scoring from South African keeper’s fumbling error in the 53^rd minute.On the other hand the Indian keeper was absolutely fantastic, making a couple of crucial saves to keep India in the game.

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The hosts continued to apply heavy pressure but failed to get anything. The home team was guilty of not converting their chances at the final third. Around the 84^th minute an unmarked Abhijit was provided with a golden opportunity only to be flagged offside. By the end, India managed to get numerous free Kicks as South African started time wasting and putting everything on the line to defend their slender one goal lead in the process giving away fouls and picking up cards.

In the injury time, India gave all out with almost all the outfield players in the attacking third, but South Africa put in some fantastic blocks to deny India a goal and hold on for the win.

Earlier in the day, Russia’s hammered China 4-1 to go top of the table. A dominant display was in witness as Russia made merry of their opponent to score four past them before an injury time penalty for china helped them to restore some parity.

Scores: India U16 0 – 1 South Africa U16 (Radzilani)

Russia U16 4 – 1 China U16

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An early goal from Russian club Spartak Moscow‘s highly rated striker Daniil lopatin, was the difference as the Indian colts failed to find a breakthrough in the Russian defence despite having a man advantage for most of the second half.

In the very 3^rd minute of the game, a defensive misunderstanding inside the Indian penalty box saw Lopatin burying his shot past the India custodian Dheeraj. Being constantly out-muscled by their well-built Opponents Indian coach made an early change with Abijit Sarkar being replaced by Aniket Jadhav.

India soon got an opportunity through a Boris’s solid cross which aniket failed to get a proper contact to. In the 31^st minute, another attempt by Boris was cleared of by the Russian keeper. On the other hand the Indian custodian was repeatedly tested by Russian attack but he hanged on as India went into break with just a solitary goal down.

Early in the second half, Indian Skipper Amarjit came close to scoring as his shot whizzed inches wide off the post. Around 50 minute mark, a wild tackle by Russian midfielder Nail Umiarov resulted in the referee giving the midfielder marching orders.

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With a goal advantage and a man down, the Russian colt decided to sit back and defend their score. Going forward looking for the equalizer, Indians came close couple of times but could not break the resolute Russian defence. Substitute Aman Chhetri came with an effort from outside the box but wasn’t enough. In the 83th minute, Komal’s curling attempt went agonizingly close as the ball once again went inches past the post. In the end, the Russian held on to their one goal lead as they took all 3 points.

In the other game, China went down 2-0 against Brazil. Victor Gabriel scored the first ever goal BRICS U-17 Football Tournament while defender Vitor matos’s second half strike sealed the deal.

Gabriel tapped home a cross from the right flank in the first minute itself to give Brazil the advantage. A dominant display by Brazil was the story of the game as china failed to make any threatening impact on Brazil’s defence. A Second half strike from Defender Vitor Matos secured the win for Brazil as Carlus Amadeu’s team take the pole position in the group.

India will now face South Africa on 7^th October, while Russia takes on face china on the same day.

Scores:

India 0- 1 Russia (Lopatin 3’)

China PR 0 – 2 Brazil (Victor Gabriel 1’, Vitor Matos 65’)

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India U-17 take on Russia U-17 in the historic first edition of BRICS Cup

Over the last couple of years, a football tournament among the BRICS nations were doing the rounds and finally India this year on the occasion of the 8th BRICS summit will host the historic first edition of BRICS Cup.

Originally Brazil, Russia, India and China were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”) before the induction of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries that annually meet to increase their contribution in global market. After some initial talks, last year around this same time, it was declared that India will host the BRICS Cup on the occasion of 8th BRICS summit.

The Tournament will take place once every year as a 10-day event and following the lines of the FIFA under-17 tournaments. Each edition will be held in a BRICS nation. On 1st October 2016, Indian Prime Minister India Narendra Modi, unveiled the Trophy for the 2016 BRICS U-16 Football Tournament in New Delhi. After participating in the AFC U-16 Championship in Goa, the Indian U-17 World Cup Squad will gear up to face Russia in their opening encounter.  It will be an important experience for India’s world cup bound squad to face possible challengers next year. Nicolai Adam, Head Coach of the Indian U-17 World Cup Squad, had earlier opined, “The BRICS Cup gives us an opportunity to play a minimum of four International matches. It (BRICS Cup) will add to the experience of the boys as we prepare for the FIFA U-17 World Cup”

Ahead of India’s first game against Russia, Nicolai stressed on the importance of the tournament and what it means for the players, “We are thankful for the BRICS Tournament and it helps us to gather more experience under our belts whilst exposing us to strong Teams. The BRICS U-17 Football Tournament is like a pre-World Cup as there are five Teams from four different confederations”

“We have to be competitive in the BRICS Tournament and ensure that we are hard to beat”, the Indian Coach said in the official Pre-Tournament Press Conference.

While talking about their opponent Russia Nicolai added, “Russia is a fantastic Team and we respect them as opponents. They finished their qualifying campaign with nine points and we look forward to giving them a hard fight, come tomorrow”

Russian U-17 coach Dimtry Ulyanov seemed well aware of what challenges India could provide but ys confident of his team’s ability “We are expecting a tough challenge from India. However, we are ready for the Tournament as we come on the back of a Tournament in France and had participated in the UEFA Development Tournament as well”

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Need to hunt actively for the ball-Adams

When asked about his analysis on India’s encouraging performance in AFC U-16 competition, Nicolai explained that his team needs to work on some technicalities, “We need to hunt actively for the ball and once we have the ball, we need to keep it better. Our philosophy is to score as many goals as possible but in order to score we need to have possession. Sometimes lack patience and commit a lot. It is normal not to have balance in youth Football, but we have to strive to right our wrongs”, he stated.

Indian colts captain Suresh Singh who was also present in the Press Conference praised the German Coach’s work ethic and said, “We have developed into better Player under Nicolai-sir and he has taught us a lot when it comes to Football”

India take on Russia in the day’s Second encounter tomorrow at 8PM after China take on Brazil in the opening one at 5PM, the match will be live telecasted on DD Sports.

India’s fixtures in the U-16 BRICS Cup:

October 05: India vs. Russia

 October 07: India vs. South Africa

October 11: India vs. China

 October 13: India vs. Brazil

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