The 2017 Under-17 World Cup, scheduled to be held in India, is expected to give a MUCH-NEEDED FILLIP to the sport in the country, which has forever failed to make a mark in football, even at the continental level.
Age-group tournaments in the international arena are often overlooked, as success at the junior level doe snot necessarily guarantee future stardom. Many young players in the cocooned environment of academies lose their footing while making a transition to the cutthroat world of professional sport.
For every player making it big, finding a career in the sport he loves, there are many who fall by the way side. They lead a miserable life of shattered dreams, and coping with life thereafter becomes a big struggle.
The junior-level tournaments, however, are still important, giving the larger sporting world a glimpse of the talent available. The FIFA under-17 World Cup, a biennial event held since 1985 (it was called the FIFA Under-16 Championship for the first three editions), enables the young players to have their first feel of a global competition.
“We call the tournament the ‘U-17 World Cup’, but in the moment that you’re playing it and living it, it’s the World Cup, it’s not the U-17 edition. You never think about the age, you’re thinking that it’s your World Cup. In that moment, it’s the highest level. Playing for the first time for your country is one of the best feelings,” says Esteban Cambiasso, who played for Argentina in the 1995 edition.
CAMBIASSO WENT ON to forge an illustrious career, representing his country 52 times at the senior level. The percentage, though, of such success, is quite rare.
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