India U-17 loses to Orlando City in opener

India started on a high note and it earned an early corner, which was seen off by the opposition defenders. In the 4th minute of the match, Orlando City SC got a corner but Boris Singh tamed the onrushing striker to turn the danger down.

The Indian Under-17 football team.

India started its campaign in the Atletico Paranaense U-17 International Tournament on a bitter note as it went down fighting against the US-based club Orlando City SC by 0-1.

India started on a high note and it earned an early corner, which was seen off by the opposition defenders. In the 4th minute of the match, Orlando City SC got a corner but Boris Singh tamed the onrushing striker to turn the danger down.

Indian attackers turned the game in its favour and Ninthoi came very close to open the scorebook within first 15 minutes, but finally, his shot was grabbed by the goalie.

Both teams went to the changing room without any difference between them.

After the changeover, in the second minute of the game, Orlando City SC found the back of the net from a tethering counter-attacking move.

Three minutes later, Nicolai Adam introduced Md. Nawaz at the expense of Dheeraj Singh, the first choice goalkeeper who received huge applauds for his exploits in the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016.

Towards the end of the game, Abhijit & Joysana were also introduced by coach to instil more vigour into the attacking third. In the added minutes, he tried his final ace in the like of Shubham Sarangi to find the elusive equaliser.

In the added minutes, India got successive four corners but the US-based team could not be perturbed until the final whistle.

India will face the host Atletico Paranaense on Tueday at the same venue at 23:30 hrs. IST.