FIFA U-17 World Cup: We lost focus in happiness of scoring, says India coach

PTI

New Delhi: A couple of Indian players were on their knees, a couple other collapsed on the ground after full-time whistle. They were not tired, not exhausted, but disappointed. Ten minutes before the referee blew his whistle on Monday, India were close to a draw against Colombia in a group match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. But the game ended in 1-2 defeat. And hence the reactions.

India scored in the 80th minute. Midfielder Jeakson Singh had entered history books. India had its first footballer to score in a FIFA World Cup. It almost sent the boys in dreamland, without realising the Colombians had re-started and then, in a flash, restored their lead. Juan Penaloza scored again, his second, and a match-winner at that.

"In their happiness, the players lost concentration. Had we held on for another 5-6 minutes after scoring, we could have been in control. But we were dreaming having scored and made it 1-1," admitted India coach Luis Norton de Matos.

"They were a little bit lost for some minutes. They need a lot of competition like that (to learn)."

India gave Colombia a run for their money, and their coach Orlando Restrepo recognised the fact.

"I want to congratulate the Indian coach and players. The last 15 minutes were stressful, especially when India scored. It was really intense. It was a balanced game," Restrepo said.

And he was impressed with India's two centre-backs.

"Hard to remember the name because of the pronunciation but the two centre-backs (Anwar Ali and Namit Deshpande) impressed," the Colombian added.

De Matos drew positives in the fact that the Indian players showed they can perform at the biggest stage.

"I will sleep with the sentiment that our players played a fantastic game. Indian players showed they can play at this level. It was a dream six months ago to give such a strong performance against a strong team from South America. We achieved it today, though it would have been nice to draw the match," he said.