How It All Started-
The Under 17 World Cup has begun from Friday and this year India is hosting such a prestigious FIFA tournament first time ever. This is a huge opportunity for India to show the whole World that the passion for football among the Indians are not lesser than any country.
In the opening match of the Under 17 World Cup Ghana had started their campaign against Colombia in the Group A clash at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. Ibrahim Sadiq’s 39th minute strike had given Ghana the all important 3 points from the first match of the Group Stage. Colombia did not give up and they had tried hard to make a comeback which they could not due to lack of finishing ability. Both the teams had used their all three substitutions in the whole match. Etilso Martinez was shown a yellow card at the 90th minute of the match. The match had ended with Ghana emerging victorious by 1-0 margin against Colombia in the first match of Group A.
In the other opening match of the Under 17 World Cup New Zealand and Turkey had shared points in the first encounter of the Group B in Navi Mumbai. In the 18th minute of the first half Ahmed Kutucu had given Turkey the lead in the match. The player was shown a yellow card at 23rd minute of the match and the first half had ended with Turkey leading by one goal against New Zealand. New Zealand came back stronger in the match when Max Mata had equalised for them at 58th minute of the match. The player was shown a yellow card at 63rd minute of the match. Boyd Curry, another New Zealand player was booked at 82nd minute of the match. The second yellow card was shown to Max Mata, the goal scorer for New Zealand at sixth minute of the stoppage time and he was given the marching order from the ground. New Zealand had to finish the match with 10 players in the field. The match which was full of events had ended with a scoreline of 1-1.
The second match of Group A saw the host nation India playing against USA in front of the home crowd in New Delhi. Approximately 46000 people was present there in the stadium to cheer for the Indian Colts. But the experienced USA side earned a penalty in the 30th minute of the match and Joshua Sargent had committed no mistake to score from the penalty spot. The first half had ended with USA taking the very important lead against the host nation. The hope of coming back in the match for India was shattered when the defected shot from USA defender Christopher Durkin had gone into the Goal and USA doubled their lead at the 51st minute of the match. At the 66th minute of the Ayo Akinola was replaced by George Acosta by the USA manager.India had also made two substitutions. Rahim Ali and Nongdamba had come in the field in place of Abhijeet Sarkar and Meetei at 70th minute of the match. India created chances but lack of finishing had not helped them to make a comeback in the match. Komal Thatal was awesome at the wing whenever he had got the ball. At 83rd minute a shot had struck the bar for India and at the next minute USA got their third goal when Andrew Carleton had scored for USA from the counter. Indian Goalkeeper Dheeraj had made many important saves otherwise the scoreline could have shown worse than it. The match had ended with USA going to the top of the table of Group A with a 3 goal advantage.
In the second encounter of Group B Paraguay locked their horns against Mali at Navi Mumbai. Paraguay took the early lead in the match when Antonio Galeano Ferreira had scored for them at 12th minute of the match. Soon they doubled their lead when Leonardo Sanchez had scored at 18th minute of the match. Mali came back in the match strongly as they had made the scoreline 2-2 at half time. Hadji Drame and Lassana N’Diaye had scored for Mali at 20th and 34th minute of the match respectively. Paraguay again took the lead when Alan Rodriguez Armoa had scored from the penalty spot for Paraguay. The match had ended with Paraguay emerging victorious against Mali with scoreline of 3-2. With this win Paraguay are now situated at the top of the table of Group B.
Scores from Day 2-
Germany beat Costa Rica 2-1, while Brazil won their match against Spain, with a similar score-line. Niger beat North Korea by a single goal, with Iran secured a comfortable 3-1 win over Guinea.
