India to play Murcia in U-20 Cotif Tournament opener

New Delhi [India], July 17 (ANI): Indian under-20 men's football team will take on Murcia, a local team, in their opening match in the Cotif Tournament, which will be held in Spain from July 29.
The under-20 national team will comprise of boys who represented India in the FIFA under-17 World Cup and those who represented India in the AFC Under-19 Qualifiers in 2017.
The director of national teams, Abhishek Yadav, said that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has drawn up a template where all national teams will be playing international competitions in addition to their domestic schedule.
"The Cotif tournament in Spain falls well into our plans and we are excitedly looking forward to it. The Sub20 category, India will be up against teams from renowned football powerhouses that will be preparing for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019 qualifiers," Yadav said.
"For the development of all national teams across age-groups, we have drawn up a template in which playing matches on a regular basis has been given high weightage," he added.
Yadav further informed that in addition to domestic competitive matches, the team will participate in other competitions as well.
"In an ideal mix, in addition to domestic competitive matches, we will participate in competitions involving Asian Football Confederation (AFC) opposition, non-AFC opposition, matches against higher-age teams, in different playing conditions, etc," he said.
On a related note, the following is India's schedule for the tournament:
July 29- India U-20 vs Murcia U-20.
July 31- India U-20 vs Mauritania U-20.
August 3- India U-20 vs Venezuela U-20.
August 5: India U-20 vs Argentina U-20. (ANI)