JOIN USColumbia became the first team to arrive for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with its coach Orlando Restrepo expressing confidence in his wards’ performance in the prestigious event, beginning October 6.
The South American nation is placed in Group A and will play two of their group matches in New Delhi and one match in Navi Mumbai. They arrived late last night.
“We are delighted to be here. The boys and the staff are all looking forward to a competitive tournament where we will put our best foot forward,” Restrepo said.
It will be Colombia’s sixth FIFA U-17 World Cup appearance though they haven’t played in the last three editions of the tournament with Nigeria 2009 being their last FIFA U-17 World Cup. The CONMEBOL team secured their World Cup berth by finishing third in the South American U-17 Championship held earlier this year.
“It is very exciting to have Colombia as the first team coming into the country. With their arrival, the tournament now enters into the last stage, with the national teams starting their preparations actually on ground to get used to the conditions in India,” tournament director of the Local Organising Committee, Javier Ceppi said.
“We encourage all fans to welcome all the teams that will start arriving from now onwards and to show the hospitality of this wonderful country,” he added.
Besides Colombia and hosts India, the 22 remaining teams will be landing in India over the course of the next two weeks.