India U-19 suffer 5-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia

India U-19s succumbed to a 5-0 defeat against their Croatian counterparts in the first match of the four-nation international tournament in Croatia.

Floyd Pinto’s boys were simply outclassed by the world football giants in the very first match of the tour. The Croatians scored four goals in the first half  (14', 20', 37', 44' and 51') to set the tempo and script a comfortable win at home.

Croatia dominated right from the beginning and came close to scoring the opening goal twice within the first 10 minutes of the match. The Croatian colts finally broke the deadlock in the 14th minute and then went on to double their lead six minuted later.

Lalengmawia and Suresh Singh came close to pulling one back for India in the 25th and 34th minute of the match but on both occasions, the opponents' custodian came in between them and the goal.

Croatia then scored two more goals in the 37th and 44th minute to completely seal the fate of the match even before the half-time whistle.

The hosts scored one more within six minutes into the second half to further pile misery on India.

India next face Slovenia on September 6 and then take on France in their final match of the tournament on September 9.

India starting XI: Prabhsukhan Gill; Boris Singh, Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Akash Jadhav; Moya, Amarjit Singh, Suresh Singh, Ninthoi Meetei; Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav.