New Zealand U-17 coach Daniel Hay admits his team doesn't have the pedigree like other sides but said they would depend on their talent and past experience to qualify from a tough group during the football World Cup.
New Zealand U-17 coach Daniel Hay admits his team doesn't have the pedigree like other sides but said they would depend on their talent and past experience to qualify from a tough group during the football World Cup.
For the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which is slated to be held in India from October, the Kiwi side is placed in Group B which includes Paraguay, Mali and Turkey.
"We know that we are coming here and probably seen as the underdogs. We are a small nation, we probably don't have the past pedigree like of the other nations but we have played the FIFA U-17 World Cup in past several editions. We have got a team with reasonable amount of talent but a tough group," Hay, who recently visited the D Y Stadium here, said.
"Mali are the losing finalists of the previous edition, we have played Paraguay in the previous World Cup in Chile, so we know that they come well prepared into the tournament and their teams always possess a great amount of talent, like any other South American team they are going to be very tough to beat. Turkey having qualified from Europe is a big statement in itself," the coach added.
Hay said he was happy with the facilities, the stadium, the dressing rooms and the training pitch here.
"Extremely happy to be here, it's the first time I have ever been to India and the experience has been really good so far. The people have been extremely friendly and the facilities, particularly in the stadium are wonderful," the coach signed off.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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