When the young Indian colts step out of the dugout to enter the playing field on Friday, a million eyes will be staring at them on and off the field as this will be the nation's first ever participation in a FIFA tournament.
The pressure will be massive on the youngsters in this U-17 World Cup, but the real question is will they be able to handle itIJ Only time will tell.
In a group placed alongside Colombia, Ghana and United States, India will undoubtedly be the underdogs.
No surprises there as the team's performances in the last couple of years were not up to the mark.
Barring the U-16 SAFF Championship in 2015, when India lost to Bangladesh in the Final, the side has struggled in major championships.
The real test came in the AFC U-16 Championships in September, 2016. Except for the 3-3 draw against Saudi Arabia, India lost the other two matches against UAE and Iran.
The BRICS U-17 tournament the next month was no different. This time India lost all the three matches.
After the Granatkin Memorial Cup in Russia at the beginning of the year, then Indian coach Nicolai Adam was relieved off his duty and he was replaced with luis Norton de Matos.
With less than seven months to prepare a team for the World Cup, de Matos' task was cut out.
They played many friendlies and went on tour abroad to get them used to the level. The stand out results was the win against a formidable Italy U-17 side in the lazio Cup and a creditable draw against Chile during their Mexican tour.
However, not much can be made out of it as the team did not participate in a proper Championship till date under the Portuguese coach.
Style of play
The team's priority is to keep their back-line organised and compact and play in a counter attacking style.
The coach makes sure when the opponent attacks, they stay in their shape and the minute the colts win the ball back, the team will try to catch the opponents out of guard in swift counter attacks.
"We have trained all these months to have a proper defense-to-attack transition and boys have adapted well to the system," said coach de Matos.
However, the team will also try to keep some bit of possession to give them some breathing time.
"We also discussed about having possession for a while in order to get some rest with the ball otherwise we would be running all the time and get tired soon," explained the coach.
The team is expected play in a 4-1-4-1 formation. With a deep lying midfielder, to act as the bridge between the defence and midfield, the team looks to properly shield their backline.
However, the lone forward might be left alone a lot when the team play in a defensive counter-attacking style. The task of the striker would be to close the opponents' midfield or defenders when they have the ball and try to hold the ball when he gets it to allow his teammates to get into their position.
Besides, this position will also require a tall centre forward who can cope with the aerial threat. If the team fail to build proper attack from the back, the only way they can move the ball forward is by regularly providing long balls to the striker. To head it to a teammate or to chest it down and keep it under his grasp under pressure situations, the player has to be a strong and tall one.
Key players
Aniket Jadhav looks to be the likeliest candidate to occupy the forward position. Having represented India at all the levels till now, Jadhav might have a big task at hand during the World Cup.
Having represented India in the FC Bayern Munich Youth Cup in 2014, he has been a regular in the team set-up.
Skipper Amarjit Singh Kiyam is another to look for. He anchors the team from midfield and will be the man to have the ball when the side is looking for a swift counter-attack.
However, the main task of being the playmaker will fall to Komal Thatal. The youngster has already shown his abilities with a thunderous goal against Brazil in last year's BRICS tournament and also has a goal against another heavyweight Uruguay. lot of eyes will be on this Sikkim-born player.
Anwar Ali will be expected to shield the backline. An assured presence at the back, the player from Minerva Punjab FC will be tasked to deal with crosses and long-balls from the opponents.
Sanjeev Stalin is another player to watch out for. Good with the dead-ball, the full-back is expected to put in neat deliveries into the penalty box when India win free-kicks.
India, undoubtedly, will have a difficult task at hand when they kick-start their campaign against United States on Friday. But, football has shown anything is possible in a given day.
"We saw Portugal lifting European Championship in France (2016) when nobody gave them a chance, not even a distant one. We take huge inspiration from that," said an optimistic de Matos, who incidentally himself is a Portuguese.
Hence, the young Indian side do not have to take much inspiration from elsewhere but their own coach to keep their spirits up.