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The India U-17 World Cup squad went down 0-3 against SL Benfica tonight, May 5 during their exposure trip to Europe. The juniors of the Portuguese giants, who are leading the Primeira Liga table, scored one in the first 45-minutes and added a couple in the second half to get the better of Norton de Matos’ boys.
Luis Pinheiro (26′), Umero Embalo (51′) and Matos (70′) hit the target for the hosts to have the last laugh against Norton de Matos’ boys who had staged a maverick 2-2 draw last month on April 27 against the same club.
The Indian colts started on a positive note and came very close to scoring the opener within first 15 minutes. Sanjeev put in a cutting-edge pass for Aniket but the striker failed to convert. At the stroke of the half-hour mark, the hosts drew first blood from a well-taken corner. Luis Pinheiro collected the long ball and rattled the back of the net to put his team into the driver’s seat.
Amarjit played a long ball down the right flank but Komal, having received it, couldn’t penetrate the gutsy Benfica defence line. On the rebound, Aniket tried his luck but the goalie had no problem gloving it. Five minutes to the break, Rahul dribbled past the fellow defender but his long-ranger sailed over the crossbar.
SL Benfica doubled the lead just six minutes into the second half when Umero Embalo’s shot got a heavy deflection off Rahul and hit the back of the net.
Matos netted Benfica’s third in the 70th minute to add more woes to the India dugout.
Hendry brought down an attacker into the penalty box but Dheeraj showed his exuberance to keep the scoreline unchanged.
Towards the end of the match, Saurabh played a through pass to Rahim but the striker failed to make most out of it as Benfica won the match 3-0.
