Down to 10 men, India pull off shock U20 win over Argentina
India clinched one of its most remarkable football triumphs when the country’s Under-20 team stunned traditional giants Argentina 2-1 in the in the U-20 COTIF Cup in Spain despite being reduced to 10 men. In Amman, the Indian U-16 team made a similar stunner, defeating reigning Asian champions Iraq for the first time to keep India on track at the West Asian Football Federation.
Time will tell whether 10 Indian under-20 boys beating Argentina and an under-16 side defeating Iraq within hours of each other is our football’s ‘Berbice moment’, but then, isn’t the theatre of sport founded on hope?
Yes, the comparison could seem a stretch because Berbice gave India its first win against the West Indies in a One-day International (ODI). Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, BalwinderSinghSandhuandMadan Lal were established internationals who took on the mighty men led by Clive Lloyd and, wonder of wonders, won by 27 runs. That was in March 1983. In less than three months, Kapil’s Devils showed that Berbice was no fluke and cricket was never the same again in India.
Both the wins in football — the 2-1 victory against Argentina in Spain in the COTIF Cup early on Monday, and the 1-0 win over Iraq in Amman late Sunday night — were in invitation tournaments, but to scoff at them could mean missing the big picture.
Playing with 10 men for 40 minutes to beat a country that has won the World Cup twice and been world youth champions six times could seem like it is straight out of the 1981 John Huston film Escape to Victory. Except that this was real .
No wonder U-20 coach Floyd Pinto was quoted as saying by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that it was one of the biggest days for football in India.
That India didn’t give up after Deepak Tangri’s fourth-minute goal and scored again through Anwar Ali in the 70th when they were playing with 10 men after Aniket Yadav had been shown the red card proved that the team wasn’t overawed. This against a side till recently coached by Lionel Scaloni before he took charge of the senior team .
Surely, regular international exposure — eight of those who played on Monday were part of the U-17 World Cup — and getting them to play in the 2017-18 I-League contributed to India looking Argentina in the eye.
The U-16 team, which beat Iraq, the Asian U-17 champions, through Bhuvenesh’s goal has got a lot of international exposure too. It has been on the road since January, playing in Europe and Asia. That is how India is preparing for the Asian U-16 finals in Malaysia next month. India, which drew 0-0 with Iraq in the qualifiers, has been grouped with Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia. A semi-final berth there would mean qualification for the 2019 U-17 World Cup in Peru. “We need to start believing in ourselves,” India U-16 coach Bibiano Fernandes said.
Sunil Chhetri concurred. Speaking from Spain where his club Bengaluru FC is training, he said: “The biggest positive is that they are getting games. The U-16 team dominated possession. That is not common.”
By 2026, the World Cup will have 48 teams with Asia assured of eight berths. By 2030, many from these U-16 and U-20 players would have made the football journey from boys to men. There have been many false dawns in India’s football journey since the 1970 Asian Games bronze — beating UAE 1-0 in 2001, making the quarter-finals of the Asian U-17 championships in 2002 and qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup finals among them — and this too could eventually be like holding a candle in the wind. But for now, it can be said that the kids are all right.