India’s FIFA U-17 World Cup team plays 1-1 draw vs Chile in four-nation event

India’s FIFA U-17 World Cup side rode on forward Nongdamba Naorem’s late strike to hold Chile to a 1-1 draw in their last match at a four-nation tournament in Mexico

In a morale-booster for the Indian team’s FIFA U-17 World Cup preparations, the Luis Norton de Matos-coached side on Sunday held Chile to a 1-1 draw in their last match at a four-nation tournament in Mexico City.

The Indian side will continue its preparations for the FIFA U-17 World Cup later this year. (Twitter/IndianFootball)

Having earlier lost to Mexico and Colombia by scorelines of 1-5 and 0-3, respectively, India managed to hold the Chileans to a draw despite going down to ten-man late in the game.

Chile took the lead in the 40th minute through a corner kick, but failed to extend their lead later in the game.

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Forward Nongdamba Naorem scored in the 82nd minute to restore parity in the game, but India received a blow two minutes later when midfielder Aniket Jadhav was sent off.

Despite the red card, India held on to grab a 1-1 draw.

“Don’t take my word for this, take his. Chile coach Hernán Caputto: “India is a competitive team that will make the country proud”,” Javier Ceppi, the Tournament Director of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the U-17 World Cup, later wrote on his Twitter account.

India are scheduled to travel to Australia after the four-nation tournament, but the fate of the upcoming tour is still not certain following objection over weather conditions in the country by India U-17 head coach De Matos.