"Witnessed a spirited, bold India": AIFF chief Chaubey lauds India U-17 team for fighting effort against Japan in AFC Asian Cup

New Delhi [India], June 24 : All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey lauded the India U-17 Men's Football team despite their losing effort against Japan in Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup, saying that he witnessed a "spirited and bold India" during the match, which "can't be backed down, no longer a push-over".

Warriors are not the ones who always win, but the ones who always fight. These set of words could probably never have been any truer than in the 4-8 loss that the Blue Colts suffered at the hands of Japan in their last Group D match of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, June 23, 2023.

"I witnessed a spirited & bold India against Japan last night. It wasn't supposed to be easy. The U17 boys showed that the New India can't be backed down, no longer a push over despite the odds. #IndianFootball," tweeted Chaubey.

https://twitter.com/kalyanchaubey/status/1672458151550144512

In a game of two halves, India clawed back into the match in the second half and gave Japan a real run for their money, before losing the match at the end. The Blue Colts came into the encounter needing to win to stand a chance to qualify for the tournament's quarter-finals, but alas, that could not be.

For Japan, Gakuto Kawamura (14'), Gaku Nawata (41'), (45'), Shuta Nagano (52), Kohei Mochizuku (54'), Yotaro Nakajima (74'), Gota Yamaguchi (90+6'), Shungo Sugiura (90+7'), scored goals. For the Blue Colts, Mukul Panwar (47'), Danny Meitei (62'), Daiki Miyagawa (69') (own goal), Korou Singh (79) registered their names on the scoring sheet.

In the Group D, India ended at third position. They could not register a win in their three matches, drawing one and losing two. Hence, they failed to qualify for the knockout stages.