Indian U17 Men’s national team were drawn with defending champions Japan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in Group D of the 2023 AFC U17 Asian Cup hosted by Thailand. This will be the ninth appearance for the Blue Colts in this competition. A total of 16 teams will participate in the U17 Asian Cup scheduled to begin on 15th June 2023. The final will be played on 2 July 2023.
The contesting teams are divided into four groups with the top two sides advancing to the quarter-final stages. The four teams that make it to the semi-finals will qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2023. An additional reward for the nations reaching this stage of the competition. The AFC U-17 Asian Cup will be held across four venues in Rajamangala Stadium, Thammasat Stadium and BG Stadium in Bangkok and Pathum Thani and Chonburi Stadium in Chonburi.
Group
Japan
India
Vietnam
Uzbekistan
The draw ceremony of the tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. India were put in pot 2 for the draw and they were paired with Japan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in Group D of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup. Bibiano Fernandes’s boys knew there will be no easy challenges in this competition but wished for less difficult opponents in the group stages.
Although the coach has said the team is excited about the draw result and with the prospect of facing quality opposition in Thailand. “We are all excited with the group that we got at the draw” head coach Bibiano Fernandes said, “We will be facing some quality opponents, and the boys are really looking forward to it. Every footballer at every level wants to play against the best, and Japan are certainly one of the best in Asia. Our previous batches have of course played against the teams like Uzbekistan and Vietnam and we have had some good results against them, so we are very hopeful to reach our goal, which is to be the first Indian team to qualify for the (FIFA U-17) World Cup,”
From his words, India will try to reach the semifinals of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup to be among the four teams ready to book their ticket for the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held later this year. The Blue Colts have reached the quarterfinals of the U-17 Asian Cup twice, doing it in the previous edition as well. It will be a tough battle for them this time to make it into the knockouts.
Fixtures
India vs Vietnam
Uzbekistan vs India
India vs Japan
The U17 Men’s national team will open the AFC U17 Asian cup against Vietnam U17 side who are in fine form this year. They also made it to the quarterfinals when the tournament was hosted in India in 2016 and also played against the nation in the last edition. The Blue Colts emerged victorious on that occasion and will be wishing for the same again here.
India will face Uzbekistan for the third time this year after playing two friendlies in January as part of the preparations. They will meet now in their second group stage game of the main tournament. Bibiano’s side had mixed results in those friendlies, winning 2-0 in the first one but losing 3-0 in the other. India will hope for a victory in the clash that will seal their place in the knockouts.
Quarterfinalists in 2018, India will like to wrap everything up before the huge clash against Japan in the third match in the group stage. The defending champions of the U17 Asian cup will pose a whole different challenge together to their South Asian counterparts. It will be a taste of mentality and nerves more than tactics or the game plan in this encounter for India.
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