Cotif Cup | India U-20 record historic win against Argentina U20 in Valencia
The U-20 Indian football team registered an iconic win against the footballing giants, Argentina's U-20 side in the Cotif Cup in Valencia on Sunday (August 6, 2018). The young Indian team gave their best and made a mark, even though they were already eliminated from the Championship.
The team of India U-20, which played at the Cotif Cup in Spain, started off with their journey in November 2017, under head coach, Floyd Pinto. The young brigade from India began with a couple of friendly games in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The team lost two matches against both the matches before drawing and winning against Yemen and Turkmenistan respectively.
After a rather low warm-up at these friendly matches, India U-20 participated at the Cotif Cup at Spain in July 2018 where they failed to play up to the mark resulting to which they lost two consecutive matches of the qualifying stage against Murcia and Mauritania and a draw against Venezuela. This resulted in the team being eliminated from the tournament despite having one game in hand.
In the final game against traditional powerhouses Argentina, the youngsters decided to leave their mark. Even though Argentina, having already qualified for the semi-finals, played a second-string squad against India, Deepak Tangri( 4th minute) and Anwar Ali (68th minute) secured a famous win for the Indians. The Argentine squad is coached by Lionel Scaloni and Pablo Aimar.
“This victory will definitely earn Indian football more respect in the world of football. It opens up a window of opportunity to test ourselves against the best in the world on a regular basis. We have a renewed belief that with the right support & exposure we are capable to compete with the best teams in the world,” head coach, Floyd Pinto commented.
