Indian U-12 team finished as runner-ups in Asian Youth Football Festa

The Nagaland School team has a bright future ahead of them

Nagaland’s Green Wood School finished in second place in the Asian Youth Football Festa 2015 held in South Korea. The team finished a brilliant second among the 47 participating teams in the tournament.

The school team was one of the 47 teams, coming from 15 countries, to participate in the tournament which included a very tough group. Having being placed with three South Korean teams and a team from China and Thailand, the youngsters won three of their four matches. Their only loss came against Thailand, a game they lost 3-0.

The tournament officially began on the 7th of August with the opening ceremony held in Anseong. On the 8th India kicked off their campaign against the Seoul Gwangjin of South Korea winning the game 4-0. In the second game, held on the same day, India maintained their 100% record in the tournament by picking up a 2-0 win over ADFC Korea of South Korea.

On the second day, the team were beaten comprehensively by the Thai team by a score for 4-0. But this did not dissuade the team as they went on to thrash Xi'an AIZI football club of China 7-1 in their last game. The team were given a runner-up trophy for their outstanding performance in the tournament.

Green Wood had qualified for the tournament by winning the 2014 U-14 Subroto Cup. National Sports Development Fund of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports released the funds for the team to travel to South Korea.

East Timor, Mongolia, Palestine, Nepal, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Laos and Tajikistan completed the roster for the tournament.