India has potential to play World Cup in future: Sol Campbel

Kolkata, Oct 26 (IANS) India has enough potential to participate in a FIFA World Cup at some point in the future, former England star Sol Campbell said here on Thursday.

"Lots of people in India have a connection to football and FIFA have done a fantastic job here in giving them this tournament. I think that in the future, India would definitely be ready to host a FIFA World Cup. We're obviously in a cricket-dominated country, but it could be done -- the support would be there.

"There are over a billion people here, so I'm also sure that there's enough potential for India to participate at a World Cup at some point in the future," Campbell, one of the best defenders in the world during his playing days, said in an interview to FIFA.com.

Campbell, who is in the city as part of his work with the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) analysing events on the pitch during the ongoing Under-17 World Cup, predicted that Saturday's final between England and Spain would be an even contest.

"It will be an even match. Both teams have impressed so far and they already came up against each other at the European U-17 Championship. That game needed a penalty shootout to produce a winner, which shows that they're evenly matched," he said.

Speaking on the game, Campbell said while Spain passed confidently, the challenge for England will be to manage the game "streetwise".

"Spain can play at a high tempo and they pass the ball confidently. England are very organised and will have to make sure to be streetwise in managing the game -- that will be the challenge for them. As an Englishman, I'm obviously pleased to see them reach the final. It's great to see how English youth football is improving," he said.

Campbell turned out 73 times for the England national team between 1996 and 2007 including in three World Cups.

Asked to name the players who have impressed him the most, the 43 year old mentioned England' striker Rhian Brewster and Spain's forward Abel Ruiz.

Brewster incidentally leads the scorers' chart with seven goals, including two back-to-back hat-tricks against the US in the quarter-final and Brazil in Wednesday's semi-final.

"Well the team comes first, always - no individual player can succeed without a strong team behind him. But at a tournament, every team needs two or three players to stand out, if you want to win the trophy.

"For example, England have Rhian Brewster, who's scoring from pretty much anywhere, while Spain have Abel Ruiz, another striker, who's extremely good in front of goal. It will be exciting to see them go head to head on Saturday," he said.

The Englishman was all praise for Mali, who went down 1-3 to Spain in the semi-final on Wednesday.

"For me, Mali played very well at the tournament, even in losing to Spain. They had a lot of chances, but they lack that composure in the final third, and in terms of tactics especially, the African teams have some ground to make up. Spain demonstrated their tactical abilities by playing the right pass at the key moment," he said.

Campbell said the standard and quality in the ongoing U-17 tourney have been very high.

"I saw a lot of good things in the semi-finals. The games moved quickly from defence to attack and there was often some high pressing to go with that. There's a lot of energy on show, teams demand to have the ball and place a lot of importance on possession," he said.

Campbell made over 400 appearances in England's Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Newcastle United.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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