New Delhi: India showed heart but lacked in skill and quality against the United States who defeated the hosts 3-0 in a Group A encounter of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, here Friday.
Captain and star striker Josh Sargent gave US the lead in the 30th minute through a penalty before Chris Dunkin (51st) got a freak goal and Andrew Carleton (84th) hit on the counter after the change of ends. But for some fine anticipatory skills of goalkeeper Deeraj Singh, who made some impressive saves, the margin of victory could have been bigger.
As predicted by head coach Luis Norton de Matos, the US were always on the offensive forcing the Indians to defend their citadel for the major part of the game.
India came close to scoring only on a couple of occasions. Midfielder Komal Thatal, the best Indian on the pitch, wasted a chance in the second half when his lob was off target while Anwar Ali’s rasping shot in the 83rd minute hit the horizontal.
The gulf in class between the two teams was clearly evident. The accuracy in passes, the first touch, positional sense of the US players made it clear that it was always a catching up game for the Indian boys.
The US attacking trio of Sargent, Tim Weah and Ayo Akinola kept the Indian defence on tenterhooks.
After a couple of close shaves, the Indians conceded a penalty when Sargent was body-checked by Jitendra Singh off the ball inside the box. Sargent himself stepped up and converted from the spot to the dismay of the crowd.
The lone Indian striker on the night, Aniket Jadhav had a crack at goal late in the first half but it went straight into US goalkeeper’s grasp.
In the 70th minute, de Matos made to changes in search of a goal with Nongdam Naorem coming in for Ningthoinganba and striker Rahim Ali for Abhijit Sarkar. But then came a classical US counter-attack which silenced the crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
After Anwar’s shot had rebounded of the cross-piece, a defensive lob caught the Indians on the wrongfoot. Carleton was sent in the clear and the striker with an outside dodge beat Dheeraj before easily slotting the ball home.
Group B results
New Zealand 1 Turkey 1
Paraguay 3 Mali 2
