FIFA U17 WC | Indian Football at the doorstep of history

Indian Football Creating History

As I sit in my room counting down the final 24 hours before the Under 17 football World cup kicks off for the Indian team, I did not know how exactly should have I approached about writing the Indian team-Should I discuss just the team and their chances or just simply mention facts and get over this quickly, I don’t know so I’ll go about blabbing about in next few paragraphs hoping to make some sense.

FIFA U17 WC | Indian Football at the doorstep of history

I first had the chance to watch the game of football on the T.V was in 2006 Fifa world cup and then again in 2010 for the World Cup, you see I did not have access to the premium channels later till 2011 and any football I had to consume was through newspapers and started to develop a liking for a club called Arsenal. So, naturally as I read more articles and how the game should be played, almost every article which had an analysis for a great player mentioned that the positioning of the player was really good or that he was a good reader of the game which helped them a lot, and later on helped me as well (This story for some other day).

Indian football suffers from this point a lot, it really does. Indian players do not know how to hold their position, how to make the movement off the ball, when to retain it, when to release it and in majority of cases how to use their body.

So, when India was awarded the opportunity to host the U-17 World cup there was a part of me that was really excited and a part of me that feared the humiliation that we would face against the teams that have players training from age as young as SIX Years of age, taught the technical aspects by the time they are 13-14 years old and then start the working on polishing their skills from then on.

The scouting for the team started right after we were awarded the tournament in 2013 and went on till early this year, which shows how much of our grassroots, clubs and state associations are in a mess, we still see score lines of a state humiliating other by difference which go in double digits. Eight players are from Manipur-Four players in the squad are from Minerva Football academy-Three from Chandigarh Football Academy, it does makes one think on where might the problem be.

But the team tasked with finding the players for the team in such conditions deserve a massive applause for finding the kind of talent that they have, this team looks like a team that will put up a fight.  Nearly 10 crore rupees have been spent by the AIFF on ‘exposure’ trips for the team where they played across Europe and that has made a difference in their game as well, if you had the chance to watch their matches on facebook live or youtube you’ll find that this team has been prepared really well and their technical abilities are better that some the senior players you would find plying their trade in I-league. The game was really good as compared what we were used to see, the players could play 90 mins without having to drop their tempo were not bogged down by their opponents and were regularly seen making inroads into the oppositions box, but the result was never really in the favor of the Indian colts and when the team finished last in the Granatkin memorial cup saw Head Coach Nicolai Adam's tenure came to an early end this year after a revolt by all 21 players in Indian Camp at that time, Luís Norton de Matos'  who had earlier worked with SL Benfica ‘B’ team. He too as soon as he was appointed did what his predecessor did - Play against an Indian club Minerva Punjab FC.

His first game in-charge saw his side lose to the Minerva Punjab's from where the once rejected player Anwar Ali was recalled back into the side along with five others (Only four made the final team), this prompted many to say that more players of such quality were ignored and rather than focusing overseas more time should have been spent in scouting at home, where huge amount of untapped talent pool exists.

Indian team has improved to such extent that they held Chile to a 1-1 draw which many are calling as a one-off result, but frankly even for it to be a one-off result the Indian team had to play really well.

Chances

The players are now much more technically sound, fit and playing in in front of a home ground should really give them a boost along with the fact that the conditions are something that most of them are familiar with, these boys are not bogged down by the task but are rather are pumped up due to it, which shows that they have the mentality for such a stage.

The injury to one of the top players in the squad Aman Chettri came at a very unfortunate time but the squad has not looked back and one can surely say that the quick wing play along with some relentless running by the squad will really put some of the top teams that are coming to face us.

Opponents

USA- Match 6th October-  If one can expect a win (low chance I know) then it has to be them.

Columbia- Match 9th October-  They are one of the best teams in world football today and even a draw against them should be celebrated as football for them is like what Cricket is to us Indians.

Ghana-Match 12th October- They are a team that will surely test the Indian team as they are known to be physically dominating and won the cup once as well.

Aftermath

This kind of event will have scouts from all over the world and a good performance can lead to these players landing a chance to play and develop in the top clubs around the world.

The sort of initiative that the AIFF has taken will surely leave its impact on the senior team and one can hope that U-20 world cup is something we can aim for.

GOALKEEPERS: Dheeraj Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill, Sunny Dhaliwal;


DEFENDERS: Boris Singh, Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Sanjeev Stalin, Hendry Antonay, Namit Deshpande;

MIDFIELDERS: Suresh Singh, Ninthoinganba Meetei, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Abhijit Sarkar, Komal Thatal, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Nongdamba Naorem, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Md. Shahjahan;

FORWARDS: Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav.

By- Saurabh Sharma

The author is a sports enthusiast who also runs a quality literature and cultural site Wordbred.com