Football- India crashes out of AFC U-16 championships

Here is the PTI report

India colts crashed out of the AFC Under-16 Championship after going down 0-3 to Syria in Tashkent, Uzbekistan today. Goals from Asaad Al Khdher, Fuaad Al Sliman and Rabeaa Jmaa dashed India’s hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals from Group B.

India, who lost 2-5 to South Korea in the first group league game, needed a win to keep their hopes alive, but were done in when Asaad opened the scoring for the Syrians in the 43rd minute.

Colin Toal’s wards conceded Two quick goals in the second session and they could never recover from the blows. Fuaad doubled the lead in the 65th minute and Rabeaa put the finishing touches in the 72nd.

Mahmoud Al Maowas of Syria was shown the yellow card.

South Korea, who hammered Indonesia 9-0 in an earlier match, progressed to the last-eight stage from the group along with Syria, who had defeated Indonesia 2-1 in the last encounter.

India face Indonesia in the last group league match on October 8, while South Korea and Syria will clash to decide the group toppers. PTI

Under 16 football Team off to play the final rounds in Uzbekistan

In the next three weeks, Colin Joseph Toal and his wards in the national under-16 team will have a chance to create history in Indian football.

On Wednesday, the team will fly out to Uzbekistan to play the final rounds of the Asian championships. A place among the first three teams in that tournament will guarantee India a berth in the next under-17 World Cup in Nigeria in 2009.

Toal, the technical director of the team for the past one year, did not rule out India’s chances of making the semi-finals and said his team was capable of beating any team in the world.

“At the under-16 level, no team should be judged on the basis of the Fifa rankings of their senior squad,” Toal said from the team’s training centre in Goa. “In our group, we are pitted against South Korea, Syria and Indonesia and I believe we can beat all of them.”

India are in Group B and will play South Korea in the opener on October 4, followed by Syria (October 6) and Indonesia (October 8).

The first two teams in the group will qualify for the quarter finals to be played on October 12.

In the qualifiers last year, India had an incredible run and scored 18 goals in five matches that included a 2-2 draw against mighty Iraq and identical 3-0 wins over Lebanon and hosts Saudi Arabia.

Toal said he was not too excited about the prospect of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time.