FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017: Chile look for 'Chak De India' inspiration in quest for 1st World Cup win

The Chile U-17 team will soon travel to India to take part in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Preparations are underway as La Rojita will try to win their first U-17 World Cup and it seems like the Chileans could draw inspiration from a rather different source.

Chile will face tough competition right from the start as they have been drawn in a group with England, Mexico and Iraq. Despite how skilled the players are they are still just a team made of athletes under the age of 17 and so the technical and managerial staff have decided to approach the tournament and prepare by strengthing the bond and relationship between the players

The Cine Hoyts theatre in Chile that opened the doors of Bollywood cinema to Chile in April 2016 arranged a special evening of cinema and reflection for the U-17 Chile Squad in the city of La Reina. The invitation was extended by CEO of Cinetopia (the distribution company that made this possible), Anurag Chourasia who specially arranged for a private screening of the movie Chak de India for the Chile players and staff as a way of bidding farewell and wishing luck to the squad before they left the country for their journey to India.

The Chile contingent with their eyes fixed on the hit Bollywood flick (image source: Chile football official website)

This visit was highly appreciated by the delegation and especially by the selected ones who felt increasingly close to India, especially because the film tells the story of how a group of hockey stars prepares to play in the World Cup, which is the biggest moment in their lives. The movie also showed them the importance of how passion and spirit will take you to greater heights and how team spirit and coherence must prevail over individualities and are the key to success.

Chile have been particularly enthusiastic about embracing what will hit them in a day or two - Indian culture. Earlier this month, the Chileans visited the Balaji Temple in Portland, USA during their tour of the USA in a bid to prepare themselves for India 2017.

So, could a Bollywood movie like Chak de India be so instrumental and inspirational that it would help the Chileans go the distance and lift their first ever U-17 World Cup in a month's time? Time will tell.