Under-16 football: Ahead of AFC Championship, India boost confidence as they stun champions Iraq 1-0

In a great show of attacking football, India Under-16 defeated AFC Under-16 champions Iraq 1-0 in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship 2018 on Sunday.

India were certainly a better side in comparison to their opponents as the Blue Colts created more chances and had five shies at the goal and all over 10 attempts off the target.

With this win, India returned to winning ways post their 2-1 defeat against Asian powerhouse Japan in the previous WAFF Championship match. Their passing had improved to a great extent and by holding their nerves in the final seconds and scoring the winner was cherry on the cake.

India’s Bhuvenesh was the goal scorer and the side will look to carry forward the momentum when they face Yemen in the tournament in a couple of days.

India kicked-off the WAFF Championship with a superb 4-0 win against Jordon before they went down in the following match against Japan.

In the game against Japan, Bibiano Fernandes's boys took a lead in the first half and maintained that till the half-time.

However, post the break, the Japanese came all guns blazing and suddenly the tables turned. They equalised and with that the momentum abruptly shifted to them and within six minutes of scoring the equaliser, Japan took the lead.

These victories and losses do not really matter for the teams at the moment because this WAFF Championship is like a preparatory tour for the next month’s big event, AFC Under-16 Championship, which will be played in Malaysia.