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The Indian Under-17 team created a record of sorts for themselves as they thrashed Hungarian club side Grund 1986 FC in Budapest 12-2 to stretch their winning run on their ongoing European exposure tour to two games. Their 10-goal win is the highest margin of victory ever since the Under-17s started playing together in preparation for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, India 2017.
This win comes on the back of a 3-0 defeat of Valmontone City in the last group game of the Lazio Cup 2017. India Colts had been unlucky to get knocked out of the Lazio Cup after finishing level with Lega Pro XI and Lazio on points, but today they were back to winning ways in some style.
It was a glorious comeback from Luis Norton de Matos’s Indians, who fell behind to an early Grund goal in the 13th minute. A quickfire brace from Nongdamba Naorem completed India’s comeback before captain Sanjeev Stalin curled in to make it 3-1 to the Colts.
On 39 minutes, the Colts were cruising at 3-1 but Grund pulled one goal back to make it 3-2. But, forward Rahul Praveen replied with a quick goal to restore the Colts’ two-goal advantage heading into half-time.
The goals started flowing in the second half as well, with Khumanthem Ninthoinganba, Jeakson Singh, Komal Thatal, Shubham Sarangi and Aniket Jadhav getting on the scoresheet. Ninthoinganba, Komal and Shubham continued the rout after the 80-minute mark by netting their respective braces to make it 12-2.
It was a job well done for the Colts, who have come a long way under their new coach Norton de Matos. This humiliation of Grund will be up there among the high points of this Indian team, who will play in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup later this year as hosts.
The Colts have now won three games on their European exposure tour, having earlier beaten an Italian representative side and Valmontone. Their European tour results read:
India 1-2 Vitoria de Setubal
India 1-2 Belenenses
India 2-2 Benfica
India 1-4 Estoril
India 0-3 Benfica
India 1-2 Sporting CP
India 1-1 Saint Leu
India 2-0 Italy XI
India 1-1 Lega Pro XI
India 0-0 Lazio
India 3-0 Valmontone City
India 12-2 Grund 1986 FC
India Under-17s 12-2 Grund 1986 FC Under-17s.
India scorers: Naorem x 2, Naorem, Stalin, Rahul, Ninthoinganba x 2, Jeakson, Komal x 2, Shubham x 2, Aniket.
India starting XI:
Gill (G), Rakip, Anwar, Stalin, Antonay, Naorem, Praveen, Sarkar, Meher, Kiyam, Rahim.
Today marks a historic day for Indian football as the Colts have made the nation proud.
