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What’s the story?
India's U-16 national team defeated the Singapore U-17 side 3-1 in their second game of the Jockey Club International Youth Invitational Football Tournament in Hong Kong on Saturday.
The Jockey Tournament is one for U-17 teams, where India are fielding their U-16 side in order to prepare them for the upcoming AFC U-16 Championship, which is due to take place in September this year.
Heart of the Matter…
Goalkeeper Biaka was constrained into action as early as in the 2nd minutes of the game itself, as he made a save, following which majority of the attacking plays were dominated by India, as the boys constantly charged forward into the opponents’ half. Givson’s free-kick was denied by the goalkeeper while Sailo failed to hit the target by a narrow margin.
It was Rohit Danu who finally got India their lead in top style, as he finished a pinpoint pass from midfielder Ricky John Shabong in the 24th minute of the game. The lead was doubled only two minutes later, with a goal from Bekey Oram. India went into the tunnel with a score-line of two goals to nil at halftime.
After resuming the match, Givson earned a free-kick early on, however, his shot was once again punched out by the Singaporean shot-stopper.
India’s third goal came in the 71st minute, right after he rattled the crossbar only a minute earlier and Singapore found their consolation goal in the closing minutes of the game from the penalty spot, to register one goal under their name, on the scoreboard.
What’s next?
India’s youngsters are to play Hong Kong on Sunday (March 25, 2018) as a part of their last fixture of the tournament.
Author’s take
The boys have once again succeeded to flourish and made the nation proud. With the Jockey Club International Youth Tournament consisting of teams aged under-17 and the Indian team being an U-16 one, it says a lot about the potential the youth contains, and the odds certainly lie in the Blue Colts' favour in Sunday’s encounter on Sunday.
