Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) India’s chief football coach Armando Colaco Tuesday tested the national team against a spirited under-23 team in a practice match here Tuesday only to find the seniors scrape through with a 1-0 win.

The under-23 team’s performance in the Pune leg of the Olympic qualifiers - when they held a superior Qatar 1-1 - prompted Colaco to pit the national team against them.

The Goan coach’s worst fears came true as the seniors missed several opportunities and the youngsters gave them a lesson in the ‘tiki-taka’ game that the coach has been professing to prepare the team for the first round World Cup qualifiers against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next month.

They played in three sessions of 30 minutes each here at the Ambedkar Stadium and Colaco rotated all his players to test his bench strength. The most impressive among the World Cup probables were midfielder Jewel Raja, Jibon Singh and Shilton D’Silva, who turned out for the under-23 team.

The trio pressed hard in the last session with their excellent passing game and that put the seniors under extreme pressure, so much so that midfielder Harmanjot Khabra lost temper and slapped junior defender Arnab Mondal. The East Bengal player had to be red-carded but the seniors were saved the blushes.

The only goal of the match came from Dempo defender Debabrata Roy, who scored from a penalty kick. The seasoned defender was a live wire on the field and Colaco said that his experience would count against the UAE.

Colaco was not happy with the performance of the seniors but said they are slowly getting into the groove of the passing game.

“We still have a long way to go and we don’t have much time in our hand. The boys are slowly getting into the mode. We had tested them (seniors) after watching the juniors against Qatar, I felt that having a match between both the teams would be a great idea,” he said.

Colaco said that Jewel, Jibon and Shilton would form the core of his central midfield.

“I have always said that Indian Arrows will form the core of the national team and these three players will play an important role. Today they played excellently and they opened up the game,” he said.

The coach also praised Debabrata, who shared a lot of workload in the defence.

“Debu is a good player and his experience will surely count. I have selected players purely on the basis of their performance in the I-League,” said Colaco.

Meanwhile, the World Cup qualifier against the UAE July 28 has been shifted to Ambedkar Stadium from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.