India, who had lost their previous two games in this tournament, have now exited the FIFA U-17 World Cup without a win.
The Indians played their hearts out in the final Group A game but that was not enough. The formidable Ghana outplayed them in all departments.
Rank outsiders India ended their maiden FIFA U-17 World Cup campaign in a cry of pain and agony. They were handed a 0-4 thrashing by two-time champions Ghana in their final group match on Thursday.
With Colombia beating the USA 3-1 in the other Group A game in Mumbai, Ghana topped the group. Colombia also qualified in the round of 16 as they finished second. USA had to be content with the third place.
To be fair to the Indians, they had not done too badly in the tournament against the best in the world. A team built in around two years through scouting from across the country. They trained together by head coach Luis Norton de Matos for just seven months. It was not expected to even perform like this.
The crowd cheered lustily to spur the home players but it was too much for the Indians to keep on defending all the time against the rampaging Ghana attackers and they wilted under the enormous pressure.
To be fair to India, Ghana also did not have too many strikes on target. Ghana captain Eric Ayaih had a fierce right-footer in the 35th minute tipped over by goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh. A short while later, Ibrahim Sulley had a shot at the Indian goal, which was again saved by Dheeraj.
India had two shots at the opposition goal late in the match through Rahim Ali and Lalengmawia, another second half substitute, but they did not trouble the Ghana keeper much.