By Shoubhik Mukhopadhyay,
AIFF Media Team
 
 

KOLKATA: "We want to give you all the support and love back and win it tomorrow for you,” Brazil U-17 Team Head Coach Carlos Amadeu showed his gratitude to Kolkata at the pre-match press conference before the much-anticipated Semi-final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata tomorrow (October 25, 2017).

"We will try to do the same whatever we have done in the competition so far and continue the work - to play the game in the Brazilian way. We want to give you back all the support and love and win tomorrow's game", Amadeu said.

The Amadeu-coached team outplayed European powerhouse Germany in the quarter-final at the same venue to set a Semi-final date with European U-16 Championship runners-up England who in the process, beat the USA in the quarter-final, courtesy a sublime hat-trick by Brewster.

Carlos Amadeu showed immense respect for the England U-17 team and the dazzling performance the Three Lions have dished out in the youth football of late.

"Not only the U-17 team but all the England youth teams have experienced great results recently. They have shown great development and I believe, they possess one of the best youth squads around the world. I believe both teams will start from the scratch tomorrow and there won't be any favourites. It'll be a great football match", Amadeu commented.

“We haven't seen something like this (66-thousand strong crowd at the VYBK stadium) in a long time and the atmosphere, the constant cheering from the stands reminded me of Maracana,” Amadeu had expressed after beating Germany in the quarter-final two days ago.

"It was really fantastic to be there. The way the fans turned up last night, we really thank them from the bottom of the heart. 66 thousand fans turning up is not something that you witness every day and the way they backed us, it was extraordinary."

"We're really happy to play the World cup here in India in front of you. The World Cup would not have been the same sans the Selecao", Amadeu quipped. 

He lavished huge praise for the colourful crowd who were present at the iconic VYBK Stadium during the quarter-final and went on to say that they deserve nothing less than a “perfect ten.”

"The way they celebrated our win, it really gave us a strong feeling of being at home. They were really polite and when we're trailing to Germany, they didn't lose the hope. That shows their love for Football and they deserve nothing less than a perfect ten."

Meanwhile, it'll be Brazil U-17 team's eighth appearance in the last-four stage of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Though the Latin Americans clinched the silverware thrice (1997, 1999, 2003) before, it's their first appearance in the semi-final since the 2011 edition.
 
 

"We are really happy to be here. Although we have reached the semi-final, we know we have more things to do. Even when we go into playing a friendly match, we don the Brazil jersey at the end of the day and that matters most to us", Amadeu stated.

The first semi-final between Brazil and England will kick-off at 05:00 PM.