The Indian colts face a major acid test ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017, which is just less than 100 days away. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has confirmed that the India U-17 football team will be playing against the giants of South America in the first week of August.
The warm-up tournament, known as Torneo de 4 Naciones Tournament, sees a total of four teams participating in Mexico City.
Hosts Mexico, Colombia and Chile make up the South American contingent while India, on virtue of being the FIFA U-17 World Cup hosts, are given the invitation to participate. Luis Norton de Matos' side already had a long exposure tour of Europe earlier this year and the upcoming tournament in South Africa gives the India U-17 football team another much-needed booster ahead of the FIFA tournament.
The journey to the tournament in Mexico was already hit with a patchy ground after the Mexican embassy in Delhi, reportedly, refused to issue visas to the Indian football team. The same issue lead to cancellation of an exposure tour of the United States, earlier this month.
However, with the visa issues kind of sorted ahead of the Mexican tourney and fixtures rescheduled, the Indian colts can finally get the platform of proving themselves again.
"Unfortunately, because of visa and later ticketing issues, the team is forced to leave in batches," mentioned AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, to the Times of India on Saturday.
"The first batch (with nine players) left this morning, some will leave on Sunday and the last batch with about five players should be in Mexico early on July 31. It's not an ideal situation but we were left with no choice."
India's fixtures at Torneo de 4 Naciones, Mexico
- August 03: India vs Mexico
- August 04: India vs Colombia
- August 06: India vs Chile
What are the dates of the key matches of FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017? Check below:
