New Delhi, Aug 24 (Petra) – The Indian U-17 men's national team is gearing up to take on Indonesia in two friendly matches in Bali on Sunday and Tuesday next week.
On Friday night, the Blue Colts played a practice match against local U20 team Bali United FC at the Samudra Kuta Stadium, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Mohamed Sami and Mohamed Arbash scored the goals for India.
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The India U-17 team, led by coach Ishfaq Ahmed, is gearing up for the South Asian U-17 Championship scheduled for next month in Bhutan and the AFC U-17 Cup qualifiers scheduled for Thailand in October.
They trained in Srinagar for over a month and a half before their trip to Indonesia.
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“We tried and tested our entire team in yesterday's training match,” Ahmed said.
“The starting team only played the last 25 minutes. Other players had the chance to play and I'm very happy about that.
“Bali United are one of the best teams here and they have five players from the Indonesian U20 national team, so we can compete with them physically and assess our level.
“The training facilities here are amazing. Everything is at the highest level, which is perfect to prepare us for the big tournament ahead. The climate is good. The host was very helpful and answered all our requests. So far, everything is going well here,” the coach added.
It may come as a surprise, but there is not much difference in temperature between Srinagar and Bali, which currently hovers between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius.
However, as an island, Bali is wetter. The Blue Colts also had to adapt training on the artificial turf pitch at the TRC Stadium in Srinagar to the natural grass pitch in Indonesia, but that did not pose any major problems, according to Ahmed.
The SAFF U-17 Championship will be played on a natural grass pitch at Changlimthang Stadium, while the AFC U-17 Cup qualifiers will be played on a natural grass pitch at Chonburi Stadium.
After several days in Bali, Ahmed and his children were excited about the challenges of Indonesia.
Highlighting the importance of playing such friendly matches, Ahmed said: “I think it is very important that our players get the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the region, the kind of competition we will face in the future.”
The match will take place at Captain Ai Wayan Dipta Stadium, Gianyar.
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