U-17 football team to play its second warm-up match in Germany
India U-17 men’s football team will take on SSV Reutlingen U-16 team in their second warm-up match in Reutlingen, Germany on Saturday as part of their preparation for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup to be held in Thailand next month. It has been three days since the Indian team reached Germany after playing a few practice matches in Spain. The India U-17 team participated in practice matches against youth teams of clubs like Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid, Levante, Getafe in Spain. In the opening warm-up match in Germany, the team suffered a 1–3 defeat to the youth team of VfB Stuttgart.
Stuttgart’s team consisted of players in the under-16 and under-19 age groups. Indian U-17 team head coach Bibiano Fernandes said in a release, “We have had a busy start in Germany. We arrived on Tuesday and we had our first match on Wednesday, but it is a good experience for the players. After a two-week training camp in Germany, the Indian team will leave for Thailand in early June.
India have been placed in Group D in the AFC Asian Cup, where they will face Vietnam (June 17), Uzbekistan (June 20) and Japan (June 23). Fernandes said, “These players have been away from the field for almost two years due to the epidemic and in such a situation they will be better by playing in difficult conditions.” We played very tough matches in Spain and expect the same from the Germany tour.
