THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

India U-17 World Cup team held by North East XI

North East XI

The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup bound India U-17 national team was held to an 1-1 draw by an North East XI in an exhibition match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Friday.

The match was organised by I-League outfit Shillong Lajong FC with on ground by the Assam Football Association (AFA) with the sole intention to help the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to spot new players for the India U-17 squad. National team scouts were also present at the game today with the purpose of selecting the most outstanding players who will be part of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Probable Squad.

A total of 22 players consisting of boys from seven North Eastern states of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura trained with Shillong Lajong FC in Shillong ahead of the match. Lajong’s Head of Youth Development Gumpe Rime and AIFF Coach Francisco Bruto Da Costa were overlooking the preparation for the North East XI.

The first chance of the match came in for the India U-17 colts in the 2nd minute, when Amarjit took a shot on goal but the North East XI custodian parried the shot away for a corner. Few minutes later, Amarjit was again in action and could have given his team the lead but his shot flew just whiskers past the goal.

The Indian team has been playing several exhibition matches in the past and they showed immense confidence in today’s match.

The North East players on the other hand also displayed impressive football skills and brilliant style of play. The boys who are hoping to get selected to the India U-17 World Cup squad, combined excellently and pressed hard to open their account in the match. They created plenty of chances and posed many threat at their opponents’ goal. Both teams went into the break all square.

The second half started with both sides looking very eager to score goals. As the game proceeded into a very interesting half, North East XI started to look very dangerous in front of goal. They continued to press forward and their efforts were finally rewarded when Fela, a player from Mizoram, was fed the ball on his feet, and made no mistake to finish the shot to give his team an 1-0 lead against the India U-17 World Cup team.

With less than 10 minutes left for the final whistle, Abhijit Sarkar equalised for the India U-17 national tam.

The match came to an end with both teams having to settle for a draw.