India U19 to play against Russia, Bulgaria in Granatkin Memorial

The India U-19 national team will travel to Russia in the first week of June to take part in the forthcoming Granatkin Memorial International football tournament in St. Petersberg.

All the matches would be hosted at the Petrovsky Stadium, which was earlier the home stadium of both the Russian national team, as well as Zenit St. Petersberg.

India have been clubbed in Group A with hosts Russia, Bulgaria, and Moldova. The 12 teams participating in the tournament have been divided into three groups, with Argentina, Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Takikistan being some of the other participating teams.

In the first round, the Indian colts being coached by Floyd Pinto will be playing three matches, and will thereon go on to play another two play-offs, depending on their position in the group.

Pinto foresees the tournament as a "small but important part for our preparation."
He added: "We are very excited because this is our first chance of playing some International matches. This is a small but very important part of preparation ahead of the AFC U-19 Qualifiers in November."
The 30-member squad is as follows:
India's schedule in the tournament is as follows: