New Delhi: Social media was flooded with praise for the Indian U-17 football team soon after the news of their emphatic win over Italy U-17 broke on the Internet. Keeping in mind the upcoming U-17 FIFA Football World Cup, it was expected to be a huge boost for the Indian team as well as fans.
While the All India Football Federation (AIFF) hailed the victory a “new chapter in Indian football”, the truth could prove to be a major embarrassment for the entire country.
It has been learnt that India's opponents were not the Italian national team, but a team made up of third and fourth division Italian players, called Lega Pro and Lega Pro 2 respectively. While Italian football federation's official website did not carry any such news about losing to India, the official websites of Lega Pro, and Lega Pro clubs - Parma and Albinoleffe - revealed that the team playing India was a representative side of the league.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the Italian U-17 team last played a match on May 9, which it lost 2-1 loss to Turkey at the U-17 European Championships. The report added that Italy have not even qualified to play in the U-17 World Cup that will be held in India later this year.
In the friendly match, strikes by Abhijit Sarkar (31 minutes) and Rahul Praveen (80) sealed the deal for the visitors.
The match was a part of the exposure tour of Europe for the Indian boys as they gear up for the U-17 World Cup.
In their defence, AIFF have said that they had no intention to mislead the football fans.
“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,” an AIFF official was quoted as saying by The Scroll.
