Indian colts set for challenging debut

New Delhi: Football minnows India stand on the cusp of history as the hosts are set to make their debut in a FIFA event against a formidable USA in their Group A match of the U-17 World Cup, which begins at the refurbished Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

India qualified automatically for the event as hosts. They have prepared well with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) sending the players for training tours in Europe and a tournament in Mexico but the home side are the clear underdogs.

Man to man, USA are clearly the better team. Most of the American players ply their trade in Major League Soccer youth teams and a couple of them are set to play in top European clubs as well.

India will enjoy the home advantage and captain Amarjit Singh and his team-mates have promised to be competitive at the showpiece event. The feat of playing in India's first-ever FIFA tournament should spur them to bring out their best and deliver something worthy of a host country. They will also be the first Indian players to feature in any World Cup.

More than that, odds are heavily against India as the players lacked competitive matches besides they didn't attend any professional academies unlike their American counterparts. Moreover, the Indian team was assembled in just seven months by head coach Luis Norton de Matos who took over in March after the sacking of German Nicolai Adam.

Adam, who was made India U-17 head coach in February 2015, built a team by scouting talent from across the country through trials and tournaments but he got the boot early this year after a reign of two years for allegedly abusing the players. Portuguese de Matos made several changes in the team, bringing in at least half a dozen players in key positions.

The two teams are more or less unknown quantities to each other. A pragmatic de Matos has, however, warned against any miracles from his boys, conceding that there is a big gap between his boys and the other teams. He has no illusions in the difference in quality between European and American players who have spent at least six-seven years in a professional academy.

The US team has 17 players who were part of the team that played in the qualifying tournament -- 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship in April -- in which it had finished second, losing to Mexico in the final on penalties.

Teams (From): India: Dheeraj Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill, Sunny Dhaliwal, Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Sanjeev Stalin, Hendry Antonay, Namit Deshpande, Suresh Singh, Ninthoinganba Meetei, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Abhijit Sarkar, Komal Thatal, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Nongdamba Naorem, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Md. Shahjahan, Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav; USA: Alex Budnik, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin Garces, Sergino Dest, Christopher Gloster, Jaylin Lindsey, James Sands, Tyler Shaver, Akil Watts, George Acosta, Taylor Booth, Christopher Durkin, Blaine Ferri, Chris Goslin, Indiana Vassilev, Ayo Akinola, Andrew Carleton, Jacobo Reyes, Bryan Reynolds, Joshua Sargent, Tim Weah.