U-17 World Cup: Bhaichung Bhutia wants India U17 team to be more attacking

The former India skipper is impressed with the defensive organization of the India U17 team…

Bhaichung Bhutia pointed that ’s age group teams have traditionally been defensive in their approach in the past. The reason being the fear of conceding against the technically superior outfits.

However, with the current batch of Under-17 team being together for over two years and been sent on several exposure tours, Bhutia hoped that they at least would have been different than the previous generations.

“Personally, I would like to see them keep the ball more against . That would allow them to control the game, go into attack mode more and create more opportunities.

Colombia are a Latin American side and if you allow them to have the ball for the majority of the time, you will have to chase and defend,” he wrote in a column.

During the AFC Under-16 Championships, India was coached by Nicolai Adam, who has since parted ways with the India U-17 team.

“I have seen this squad play in the AFC U-16 finals and even in the BRICS Cup and I remember once even saying: ‘This Indian batch is as good as the Brazilians,' and I still stand by it.

“This squad has the quality and the technique and there's plethora of individual talent in the team. They need to use it collectively and once they are able to do that it will be a different ball game,” he mentioned.

He went on to praise the defensive organization of the team but reiterated that they need to attack more.

“More than the score line, it's about the character on display that always stays in the minds of fans. Indian age-group teams over the years have always been defensive when we played bigger teams and that was for obvious reasons.

"I would rather want this team to be different, and utilize their abilities while on the attack. The defensive organization of this team is, however, brilliant. They know when to close it down, hold and there's always the other one to back his teammate.”