AFC Football Festival: India U-13 boys do well

The India Under-13 boys have returned from a good exposure at the South Asian leg of the AFC Football Festival in Yazd City in Iran.

The AFC Football Festival has been created by the AFC as the name says as a festival rather then a tournament where it isn't about winning and trophies, but rather international exposure for the young footballers.

India did impress the AFC experts who declared striker Lalremruata and midfielders Lalmuanzova and Sandip Bhattacherjee amongst the 'Best Players' in the Football Festival in Iran, while midfielder Lazim Ali was declared the 'Most Skilful Player' as he excelled in the skill tests.

Over the duration of the Football Festival the Indis Under-13s used their whole squad. The team won five of their matches, drew two and only lost their final game against Iran.

Manager Satheevan Balan was pleased with the performance of the boys. "It was the first time the kids played at such a big platform. But they stayed composed."

Assistant Coach Tarun Roy added, "There was a healthy turn-out in all the matches and our performance was appreciated by all."


Results

First round results

India 8-0 Bhutan
India 1-1 Pakistan
India 3-0 Yazd City
India 8-0 Bhutan (Return-leg)
India 1-1 Iran

Second-round results

India 7-0 Bhutan
India 8-0 Sri Lanka
India 0-2 Iran