Under-17 World Cup: USA’s John Hackworth - We should probably be the favourite against India

Ives Galarcep

Under-17 World Cup: USA’s John Hackworth - We should probably be the favourite against India image

India take on USA in their opening fixture of the Under-17 World Cup on October 6 in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

This will be the very first time India are participating at a FIFA event and the excitement is very much visible with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi expected to grace the India vs USA tie.

In an exclusive interview with Goal, USA coach John Hackworth pointed that facing the host nation in the opening game isn’t an easy task.

“It’s not easy to play the host nation in the opener. They’re talking about the Prime Minister being there, and it being a full stadium. The preparation and investment that they’ve put into the U-17 team is impressive,” Hackworth told Goal.USA have come up against the Indian side last year and won the tie 4-0 in Goa.

“We played them before, and had a fairly easy result in terms of the scoreline, but it was one of the hardest-working teams we’ve ever played against,” he pointed.

Hackworth admitted that his side go into the game against India as favourites and enthused confidence about their chances of progressing into the knockout stages of the Under-17  World Cup.

“We should probably be the favourite against India, but anything can happen in an opening game,” Hackworth said.

“We’re confident that we will manage it to the best of our abilities. We’re not looking past the group, but we’re confident that hopefully we can get through it and get to the knockout phase,” he mentioned.

 

 

 

Ives Galarcep

Ives Galarcep Photo