India Seniors beat U-23s through a penalty

It was a test of sorts for interim coach Armando Colaco to see where his wards stand after two weeks of training. The Indian senior national team faced the India Under-23 national side in a test match at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi and the seniors prevailed 1-0 through a Debabrata Roy penalty.

The match was split into three sessions of 30 minutes each to allow Armando Colaco to see all his players in match action, while also rotating positions amongst players which didn't allow a first team to emerge.

The seniors had more from the match but missed chances galore with left back Debabrata Roy scoring the winner from the spot. The players did try to play Armando's passing football but they did have their difficulties and often the ball was played back into defence rather then looking at options upfront.

What should worry Armando is the fact that Jewel Raja, Shilton D'Silva and Jibon Singh gave the seniors a tough time in midfield while in the two matches against the Qatar Under-23s they were one of the weak links in Desmond Bulpin's playing side.

After the game Armando told the media, "We still have a long way to go and we don't have much time in our hand. The boys are slowly getting into the mode. We had tested them (seniors) after watching the juniors against Qatar, I felt that having a match between both the teams would be a great idea."