The All India Football Federation on Saturday declared that the India Under-17 team which would be taking part in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup later this year had defeated the Italy Under-17 team 2-0 in Arezzo, Italy on May 19.
So were the AIFF’s President, the Union Sports Minister, the federation’s parent confederation (AFC) and the senior national team’s head coach led into believing that they had indeed beaten the Italy Under-17 team?
An AIFF source says that their intention was not to mislead the general public, “We signed a tier II international form, a form which is used only when two international sides are facing each others. The Italian team’s representatives were their choice and we were not aware of it.”
The source also went on to say that in their previous matches played against the likes of Saint Leu and Benfica, no such form was signed or required.
Several news outlets had reported the news that the India U-17 had defeated the Italy U-17 team as well, as per the prior communication received from the AIFF’s Media team. The team that the Junior Blues had beaten turned out to be a Lega Pro Under-17 Representative team, of which players were chosen from teams competing in Lega Pro and Lega Pro 2, the third and fourth tiers of the Italian football pyramid respectively.
@LGIcalcio ad @ArezzoCalcio. C'è amichevole under 17 @LegaProOfficial contro la rappresentativa Indiana. Prossimamente il report del match. pic.twitter.com/hlC9LBwqIC
— La Giovane Italia (@LGIcalcio) May 19, 2017
As shown above, the team which faced India and the Italy Under-17 team which played their last game at the UEFA Euro Under-17 Championship on May 9 were completely different.
This was not to say that the Under-17’s 2-0 win over the LegaPro side wasn’t a morale-boosting victory for the side. As the side gears for the upcoming World Cup, performances like these are crucial to how the team shapes up.
