India's historical moment turned out to be a sour one as the spirited under-17 side lost their World Cup debut match against USA 0-3 in the Group A opener at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, here on Friday.
First half goal from the spot by Josh Sargent (30th minute) and second-half goals by Chris Durkin (51st minute) and Andrew Carleton (84th minute) sealed the deal for the North American nation.
As expected before the match, India started the first half by allowing USA to keep the possession. India played in a narrow 4-4-2 formation kept hold off their position as USA forward line, led by Sargent, opened the floodgates of attack.
India managed to keep the US attacking quartet - of Sargent, Carleton, Ayo Akinola and Timothy Weah on the bay for most of the opening quarter of the match but lapses in concentration often saw the US forwards getting alarmingly close to finding their first goal.
KP Rahul, who started at right-back instead of suspended Boris Singh Thangjam, did a fabulous job of negating the threat of US's star left winger Weah. left-back Sanjiv Stalin also came up with a flawless performance as he kept another goal threat Akinola from getting close to the box.
Dheeraj Singh, playing in his first ever World Cup game like his other teammates, was in no mood to give up and made some astonishing saves following one-on-one situations with Carleton and Sargent respectively. USA coach John Hackworth was all praise of the shot-stopper.
"Indian goalkeeper (Dheeraj) was the stand out performer for me from the Indian team," Hackworth said. "We could have taken a lead at the beginning of the match itself. But he kept on saving them. I know Sargent and he never misses those chances."
But Indian keeper's best of efforts couldn't save the Blue Cubs from conceding their first goal as in a desperate attempt to stop USA's No 9 from penetrating into the penalty area, Jitendra Singh took Sargent down inside the Indian box. The referee didn't waste a second before pointing towards the spot for a penalty.
An experienced campaigner like Sargent, who also represented the USA in under-20 World Cup this year in Korea Republic, made no mistake in sending the shot-stopper the other way; rolling the ball into the empty net as the USA opened their goals account in the World Cup.
Komal the fighter
Honestly, India had a tough time to get inside the defensive third of US for the majority of the first half. But things changed dramatically towards the closing minute of the first half through Komal Thatal.
Close to 40 minutes, Thatal twice managed to get close to US penalty area through his skillful technique, although he couldn't manage to test the US goalkeeper Justin Garces but the momentum created by him soon passed on to the whole team as Indian boys propelled series of attack on the US defense, subsequently finding their first but weak shot on target through striker Aniket Jadhav before the end of the half.
India started the second half like they did at the end of the first and they kept on getting closer to the US goal. But going more forward also left spaces at the back for India. From an eventual corner, the hopeful and boisterous Indian crowd and players were punished by their counterparts when American midfielder Durkin slot a goal in from a corner, deflecting into the goal via Anwar Ali.
The crowd didn't lose hope and kept backing the team to give their best. Indian players soon gained momentum through two substitutes - Rahim Ali and Nongdamba Nongrem - and started asking more questions on the US defence.
India's best chance to score came when Thatal's corner was shot into the crossbar by an unmarked Anwar Ali on the far post.
Before India could recover from this disappointment of not taking the chance to make it 2-1, USA quickly gained possession of the ricocheted ball from the bar and Chris Goslin's through pass to Carleton was enough for the attacking midfielder to put the score beyond reach at 3-0, as he went past the keeper Dheeraj to put the ball into an empty net.
Indian coach luis Norton de Matos felt that moment could have turned the match around.
"We could have got back into the game with the crowd behind us with that shot on the crossbar," Indian coach said. "And in the very same moment, we went down 0-3. Where it could have been 2-1, it was 3-0," he said.
Despite the result, de Matos was happy with the improvement his boys made and felt the final score was harsh on his players' effort. "I think the result was a bit tough on the boys. I liked the way they played. They stick to the plan, maintained the two lines, they showed a lot of improvement in a competitive match," he said.
India next play Colombia on 9th October at the same venue whereas USA face Ghana.