India U-16 'B' National Team (Photo courtesy: AIFF Media)
The India U-16 ‘B’ National Team went down fighting 0-2 against the Ufa U-16 Youth Team at Ufa in Russia tonight. Ufa scored in either half of the match to seal the fate of the match.
The boys, under the tutelage of Bibiano Fernandes, flew all the way to Russia to ply their trade against the U-16 team of Ufa. The home team pulled the trigger within the first seven minutes and got their nose in front.
The Indian colts did not bog down to the intimidating pressure from the Russians and preferred to charge right away. Bishnu’s calculative free-kick missed the back of the net by a whisker followed by another narrow miss by Amay in the 23rd minute.
Bibiano deployed Nonganba on the right flank and the prodigy kept the Ufa defenders on their toes till the end of the first half.
After the resumption, Amay found himself in a comfortable position but his ambitious long-ranger never came down. In the 51st minute, Ufa built up another attack down the left flank and stunned the Indian custodian who couldn’t reach out to the blinder.
Having doubled the lead, the Ufa boys tried to push more to find the crack in the Indian box but the Indian colts were not ready to bow down to the mounting pressure.
The gaffer introduced Anirudh in the dying minutes of the match in the place of Amay but it didn’t affect the scoreline. Manvir tried to leave an impression towards the end but the Ufa defenders saw off the danger with utmost proficiency.
(Report & Photo courtesy AIFF Media)