It was a dream come true for every football fan in India as India U-17 team faced USA U-17 in U-17 World Cup on Friday in New Delhi. India’s FIFA World Cup dream finally became a reality in front of 46,000 plus people, but that was not complemented by the ideal result as the USA, led by Josh Sargent saw them off with a 3-0 win in their opening Group A game.
India started well but an unfortunate penalty gave USA the lead in the first half as Sargent scored the goal. As expected, veterans at this stage USA began to push harder, but Dheeraj Singh literally stood tall against the rampaging Sargent and company.
In the second half, miscommunication between Indian defenders took USA’s lead to 2-0 in the 51st minute. After that, Indian players started pushing even more, and on one such instance, the Americans killed the game off in a counterattack by scoring the third goal.
Earlier, the evening began on an electric note with Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting both the Indian and the USA team alongside India’s Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, FIFA VP Sheikh Salman and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura.
India play Colombia next on October 9th in the national capital where a defeat could bring their World Cup campaign to an end.
