India underdog against US

The Indian boys will face the Americans on October 6 before locking horns with Colombia and Ghana on October 9 and October 12 respectively. US has participated in 15 of the 16 editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, having only missed out in 2013. US finished runners-up to Mexico at the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship.

USA on paper have a better squad of players compared to India and will be the favorites to triumph in what will only be one of the four matches on the opening day of the tournament. “They (USA) will be strong in attack and we have to prepare to counter their attack. We have to be strong in defence”, said Indian coach Luis Norton de Matos ahead of the match. 

USA coach John Hackworth on the other hand said, “We’ve played India once before, we were successful against them. But it wasn’t in the opening game of the World Cup, it wasn’t them hosting a World Cup. My feeling is that, and from the information I’ve heard, there’s going to be a very loud crowd”.

INDIA: Goalkeepers: Dheeraj Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill, Sunny Dhaliwal. Defenders: Boris Singh, Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Sanjeev Stalin, Hendry Antonay, Namit Deshpande. Midfielders: Suresh Singh, Ninthoinganba Meetei, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Abhijit Sarkar, Komal Thatal, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Nongdamba Naorem, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Md. Shahjahan. Forwards: Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav.

USA: Goalkeepers: Alex Budnik, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin Garces. Defenders: Sergino Dest, Christopher Gloster, Jaylin Lindsey, James Sands, Tyler Shaver, Akil Watts. Midfielders: George Acosta, Taylor Booth, Christopher Durkin, Blaine Ferri, Chris Goslin, Indiana Vassilev. Forwards: Ayo Akinola, Andrew Carleton, Jacobo Reyes, Bryan Reynolds, Joshua Sargent, Tim Weah.