The All India Football Federation’s (AIFF)developmental team, Indian Arrows will aim to continue the good work when it faces Mumbai City FC in the third qualifier of the Hero Super Cup 2018 in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
The Arrows, comprising players of India U-19 national team and U-17 World Cup side, are being coached by Luis Norton de Matos, who believes that the process needs to continue.
The qualifiers of the tournament will be played between teams who finished between seventh and 10th in the Hero ISL and Hero I-League respectively. The four winners will proceed to the final round of the tournament which kicks-off from March 31.
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“We are in a process and we’ll continue to show that we are able to showcase a good brand of football, no matter who are we facing,” Matos said.
“We had four wins in the Hero I-League despite being the youngest squad in the league. Moreover, the youngest highest scorer Abhijit Sarkar is in my team. My boys were chosen for the Hero of the Match 10 times. Naorem scored arguably the best goal in the I-League and mostly, the team proved their mettle against physically superior sides,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“We had four wins in the Hero I-League despite being the youngest squad in the league. Moreover, the youngest highest scorer Abhijit Sarkar is in my team. My boys were chosen for the Hero of the Match 10 times. Naorem scored arguably the best goal in the I-League and mostly, the team proved their mettle against physically superior sides,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Mumbai City FC coach Alexandre Guimarães lauded AIFF’s developmental project saying: ‘’This is a very good idea of the federation to give them a possibility to compete with professional teams. This is not very usual in other places where I have been (Asia or South America) before.’’
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‘’This process can be continued and it’ll give more experience for future. I watched some games and we know how hungry they’re for success.”
Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who has recently extended his ally with the Mumbai-based club, also said that they are taking the match very seriously.
“All the youngsters have experience of playing in a FIFA World Cup, which is huge for any footballer. They’re agile and are aware of their potential. They can surprise one and all on a given day,” he said.