AFC U-16 Championship: India exits after 0-1 defeat to South Korea in quarters

The World Cup remained a distant dream as the Indian U-16 football team went down fighting 0-1 against the Korea Republic in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship at the Petaling Jaya Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday.

A win against Korea would have made the U-16 boys the first Indian team to have qualified for a World Cup on merit but as fate would have it turned to be a repeat of the 2002 clash, where India had lost 1-3 against the same opponents and in the same competition.

It was one goal that separated both the sides here and first India conceded after 337 of minutes played in the tournament.

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Korea had started well dominating possession and threatened to score in the opening half. But faced with a dogged Indian defence, the side that had so far scored 12 goals in five matches, struggled for finding runs.

India, who were making their first appearance in the league and playing their first quarter-final after 16 long years gave a tough fight to the Koreans but could not emerge victorious.

Having made it into quarters after collecting five points from three matches with one victory and two draws. Indian goalkeeper Niraj Kumar called into action early in the 14^th minute and he responded with a brilliant save to deny Korea from close range.

Then in the final few minutes, Ravi Rana came close to giving India the lead with a shot from the edge of the box but was denied by the Korean custodian as both teams went into the break goalless at half-time.

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The colts in blue looked a better team after the break and almost had Jharkhand surprised in the 52^nd minute when Ridge de’Mello’s first-time volley drew a good save from the Korean goalkeeper.

But the chance went begging and two minutes later the Korea Republic should have taken the lead when an attempted free-kick from skipper hit the Indian post, while Niraj had to be alert in the 64^th minute to deny the opponent from scoring.

But though wasn’t to be and for all the heroic effort India put up in the quarter, their resistance finally ended as Korea scored through Jeong Sangbin, who completed a tap-in after Niraj’s punch to save a shot had fallen for him.

India went hard in the final few minutes in search of an all-important equaliser, but the Korean defence held firm to seal the semis berth.

Image Source: mykhel