India U-17 accomplishes a historic 2-0 win versus Italy

Abhijit Sarkar, in the 31st minute, and Rahul Praveen, in the 80th, scored in a game where Indians dominated their Italian counterparts.

The Indian U-17 team celebrates after beating Italy 2-0 in Arizo.

In a historic moment for Indian football, for the first time, the Indian U-17 team, on Friday defeated its Italian counterpart 2-0 in Arizo, Italy.

Abhijit Sarkar, in the 31st minute, and Rahul Praveen, in the 80th, scored in a game that India dominated.

India was brisk from the beginning and gave the opposition a tough time. Komal Thatal’s eighth minute strike was only inches away from giving the visiting team an early lead. In the 13th minute, Aniket was in a good position to score the first goal, but his effort was easily thwarted.

Then, Abhijit's cross was deflected by the Italian defence to its own net.

Buoyed by a 1-0 lead in the first half, the Indians exerted to score another. In the 59th minute, Aniket didn't make the most of a one-on-one battle against the Italian goalkeeper.

Rahul, in the 75th minute, failed to tap the ball inside the net after it bounced off the Italian goalkeeper's hands. But he compensated five minutes later from inside the box, giving India a historic win.   

With the FIFA U-17 World Cup nearing, this win will raise the expectations from these boys.