“It’s extremely important for players to get exposure against best teams”: India U17 head coach Ishfaq

New Delhi [India], August 24 (ANI): India Under-17 head coach Ishfaq Ahmed believes it is “extremely important” for the team to get exposure against the best teams ahead of the SAFF Championship.

The Indian men’s U17 team landed in Bali ahead of their two friendly matches against Indonesia U17 on August 25 and August 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 were the goalscorers for India.

Coached by Ishfaq Ahmed, India U17s are gearing up 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 Indonesia.

“We tried and tested our entire squad in yesterday’s practice match. 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,” said Ahmed as quoted from AIFF.

“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.

After a couple of days on the island of Bali, Ahmed and his team 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.