FT: It has been a story of missed chances. India started out strong and even came close to scoring in the first half. However, the second half witnessed much of the possession being dominated in the midfield with both teams lacking precision in the final third as the match ended in a stalemate.
HT: It has been an exciting first half with both teams coming up with sporadic chances. The Indian colts have looked defensively very strong and will need to convert the attack in the final third. Another promising 45 minutes in the offing.
Stay tuned as we will shortly be back from the break!
34' A positive game so far for India. They have looked threatening on a couple of occasions with the ball and have maintained a robust defence to deny the opponents any lead.
After a 0-2 loss to Murcia U-20s in the first match and a 0-3 thumping by Mauritania U20s in the second, the young colts of India will be looking to bounce back with a win at the COTIF Cup, as they go up against Venezuela U20s in their 3rd match.
Currently, the Indian team is participating in the Cotif Cup in Spain, playing matches against renowned football powerhouses that will help them prepare for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019 qualifiers.
The Indian team comprises of a mixture of boys from the team that played the FIFA U-17 World Cup and those who represented India in the AFC U-19 Qualifiers in 2017.
The young colts are in for an extremely difficult challenge in their next match when they play Argentina U-20s on August 5. A win there is unlikely, even a draw would be commendable, hence their only realistic shot at winning lies in the upcoming match against Venezuela.
In their loss against Mauritania, Indians were playing without Rahul KP, Sanjeev Stalin, and Rahim Ali -- who were out because of injuries. Suspensions were also suffered by two of their main central defenders -- Anwar Ali and Jitendra Singh. Hence, in all, the young boys in Blue were without five of their major players and suffered a heavy loss.