The India Under-16 football team have began their preparations for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, with real-time match experiences at Dubai Sports City.
During their time in Dubai, the Indians played the resident Under-16 outfit of the Football Academy’s flagship Spanish Soccer School programme.
Nicolai Adam, the India Under-16 coach, was very pleased with the conditions in Dubai.
“I have worked in football my whole life. I have been to Dubai many times. This is the best location to work at this time of the year,” he revealed.
“In Europe, it’s getting too cold, in India, it’s still too hot, and it’s just a short flight so Dubai is the place to come.”
“We find everything we need here to prepare them professionally. We have perfect conditions here, we have a good hotel, we have a good training pitch and today we had a good opponent,” he explained.
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“That was a good test match,” he added, reflecting on his side’s victory.
“I wish in India that we would have something like this.
“In India, the right infrastructure is not there. Something like this as our national training centre would be fantastic. I am used to good training
pitches and good facilities but this is beautiful.”
Football Academy director Michel Salgado was thrilled to have the Indian team here.
“I am really proud as director that they count on us to do preparations for the World Cup,” said the Real Madrid legend.
“We try to educate our kids through football and I think the level of our coaches is amazing, it’s outstanding. It is something that is calling not only Dubai but all other countries.
“We are doing really well,” he added. “They know what we’ve been doing for the last two years. We prepare our kids really well.”
