Indian U17 football team in Bali.© X (Twitter)
The Indian men's U17 team landed in Bali ahead of their two friendly matches against Indonesia U17 on August 25 and 27. On Friday night the Blue Colts played a practice match against local side Bali United FC U20 at the Samudra Kuta Stadium, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Arbash scored the goals for India. Coached by Ishfaq Ahmed, India U17s are preparing for next month's SAFF U17 Championship, to be held in Bhutan, and the subsequent AFC U17 Asian Cup Qualifiers, which will be hosted by Thailand in October. They had been training in Srinagar for over a month and a half before their trip to the Island of the Gods.
"We tried and tested our entire squad in yesterday's practice match," said Ahmed. "The main eleven only played in the last 25 minutes. The other players got the chance to play and I'm really happy about that. Bali United are one of the top teams here and they had five players from the Indonesia national U20 team, so we could compete physically with them and judge our level.
"The training facilities here are nice. Everything has been top class, which is ideal for us to prepare for the main tournaments coming up. The climate is pleasant. The hosts have been really helpful, accommodating all our requests. So far, so good here," the coach added.
It would perhaps come as a surprise but there isn't much difference in temperatures between Srinagar and Bali, which ranges between 20 to 25 degrees celsius at this time of the year. However, being an island, Bali is more humid. The Blue Colts have also had to adjust from training in the artificial pitch at the TRC Ground in Srinagar to the natural grass pitches in Indonesia, but that isn't much of an issue, according to Ahmed. The SAFF U17 Championship will take place on an artificial pitch at the Changlimithang Stadium, while AFC U17 Asian Cup Qualifiers will be held on natural grass at the Chonburi Stadium.
After a couple of days on the island of Bali, Ahmed and his boys are eager for the Indonesian challenge. Highlighting how crucial it is to play such friendly matches, Ahmed said, "I think it's extremely important for our players to get exposure against some of the best teams in the region. The Indonesian age-group teams are doing really well. This is the kind of competition we will face in the future."
Like their senior team, the Indonesian youth teams have also been on the rise in recent times. They hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup last year. As far as the current batch is concerned, Indonesia finished third in the ASEAN U16 Boys Championship held in July this year. Coached by Novo Sarianto, they beat Vietnam 5-0 in the third-place match after losing to Australia in the semi-finals.
"Indonesia are a strong and organised side. Their technical and tactical abilities are good. They had a big win against Vietnam, and just a few days ago Vietnam beat Japan. So this is the kind of level our boys will face. We're looking forward to these two matches. They will show us the reality in Asia, where we stand and where we need to improve," Ahmed concluded.
The friendly matches between India U17 and Indonesia U17 will take place at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium in Gianyar on Sunday, August 25 and Tuesday, August 27. Both matches will kick off at 17:30 IST.