The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met the Indian U-17 football team, who represented the country in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in Indian sports history. The India U-17 team were invited by Prime Minister Modi at his office after they came back from Saudi Arabia following the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers. Reflecting on his meeting with the U-17 team, PM Modi "I personally requested for this meeting as I saw some movement in all of youth generation of our nation. Based on your performance, people have started knowing young guns of India. So there is a huge responsibility on thier shoulders to make all Indian proud of."

He further said that the boys must stay together as a team and in a few years time should establish themselves as professional players. "Consider this U-17 World Cup as just a preparation for the future. I hope you stick together as a team and in five-seven years time represent the country with great honor.

The leader of our nation who has mentioned the significance of sports ordinal times in 'Mann ki Baat', expressed there was no life without sports. "There is no life without sports. Football is a very intense game. Hope you can inspire people to drill sports as part of their daily lives," Prime Minister Modi, who was present at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi during India's FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 opening game of the tournament against the USA, said that Jeakson's goal against Colombia in their second match was the "biggest reason for all of us to celebrate during the whole game, because it was the first goal and it is historical moment for all of us".