India U17 team battled to hold Chile U17 team 1-1 on Sunday to end the four-nation tournament in Mexico City with a draw.
The Indian team, coached by Luis Norton de Matos, entered the tournament consisting of Colombia, Mexico and Chile with a view of preparing for the FIFA U17 World Cup to be held in India this coming October.
India had a tough start to the tournament as they fell to a 1-5 defeat at the hands of Mexico, followed by a 0-3 loss against their U17 World Cup Group A opponents Colombia.
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As a result, coach de Matos would have been eager to attain an encouraging result on Sunday against Chile, who finished as runners-up in the 2017 South American U17 Championship to Brazil.
India did start well, with a few encouraging forays into the opposition half which were all thwarted by a competent La Roja defence.
But Chile drew first blood in the 40th minute when they scored from a set-piece which was poorly defended by India.
However, India came close to an equaliser several times as Aniket saw a shot go high by inches in the 55th minute before the goal came.
Nongdamba Naorem was the hero for India as his strike ruffled the net and pulled the Blue Tiger colts level. But there were moments of concern for India as Aniket was sent off two minutes later, reducing India to 10 men.
To their credit, India managed to hold on the scoreline as they wound up the tournament with a result that will offer up encouragement.
