Daniel Lalhlimpuia Chennai City FC Bengaluru FC I-League 2017I-League

ISL 2017: Bengaluru FC beat India U-19 National Team, Daniel Lalhlimpuia scores

A near-full strength Bengaluru FC were made to sweat on Friday when they faced a resilient India U-19 national team in a friendly. The Blues won the match 1-0, courtesy Daniel Lalhlimpuia's first half strike.

The Indian Super League (ISL) side missed the services of star players Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Udanta Singh, who left for Macau along with the national team.

The defending champions of the Federation Cup will be facing North Korean side 4:25 SC in the second leg of the AFC Cup semi-final on 13th September, having thrashed them 3-0 in the first leg at home.

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On the other hand, the India U-19 team also has its hands full, with the SAFF U-18 championship slated to start in a fortnight. With all players born on or after 1st January 1999, the India U-19 team will have the full squad to choose from in the U-18 tournament.

India have been grouped with Bangladesh and hosts Bhutan, and will be eager to win their maiden title having finished second best behind Nepal in the inaugural edition.

"It was a good effort by our young boys, especially against a strong Bengaluru FC who also had foreigners in their line-up," Floyd Pinto, the coach of the U-19 team told Goal after the match.

Bengaluru had earlier played two friendlies in Spain during their pre-season tour, but lost 4-2 and 3-0 against UCAM Murcia and Bani Yas respectively. 

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