FIFA U-17 World Cup: Twitter Reacts As India Start Campaign With A Defeat 1

Electric atmosphere, football dignitaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other eminent guests were in attendance at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi as India witnessed history unfold when its Under-17 team walked out of the tunnel to mark the country’s first appearance in a Football World Cup across all age group and sex. The script, however, did not unfold the way the millions of Indians would have wanted as the USA defeated the Indian colts by 3-0 to start their campaign on a good note.

As expected, the visitors began the proceedings in Delhi in a dominant manner, distributing the balls at will while the hosts were struggling to keep the possession. As a result, the boys in blue could do very little except sitting back and do the bulk of defending.

However, the home team did defensively, keeping the USA at bay for the first 30 minutes. All the good work was undone when a clumsy challenge by defender Jitendra resulted in a penalty as captain Sargent made no mistake from the spot, sending the Indian goalkeeper the wrong way to fire his team to the lead at the half-hour mark.

India had their first shot on the target just before the half-time, but it was little weak as the USA custodian had no problem in saving it. The visitors similarly began the second half and doubled their lead just six minutes into the half when Chris Durkin’s deflected shot off a corner found the back of the net.

Five minutes later, India got their best chance when Komal Thatal went one on one with the ‘keeper, but he lobbed the ball well over the bar. As the half progressed, India’s incursion in the opposition half increased but the failure to deal with the superior speed and physicality of the USA players did not allow the Indian players to create many problems in the final third.

The luck, meanwhile, was positively against India as the USA scored again in the 84th minute against the run of play to all but seal the game. Suresh had unleashed a great shot from the edge of the box, but Durkin came in the way as the ball went out for a corner. Anwar Ali hit the post from the resulting corner before George Acosta lifted the ball over the top for Carleton who rounded the ‘keeper before burying the ball into the net to seal all the points for his side.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/Heilige_Kugel/status/916309996974907393

https://twitter.com/MajorPoonia/status/916313942934171649

 

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