Victory is welcome, time for India to step up for sterner tests
Football on Sunday night was about one colour — blue. In Thiruvananthapuram and in London. Uniting Stephen Constantine and Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink was the fact that both are trying to rebuild. Both succeeded to a point on Sunday.
What makes India’s victory significant is that it came against a team ranked 16 slots above it on the Fifa list (Afghanistan are 150). One India lost to in the 2013 SAFF Cup final in Kathmandu. And of the 20 Afghan players for the SAFF Suzuki Cup, 15 are based in Europe.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, India had lost Robin Singh, who scored three international goals in his last two games after a rather long and ordinary run, in the opener. Sandesh Jhingan, Cavin Lobo, Anas Edathodika, Romeo Fernandes and Mandar Rao Desai too weren’t available.
GOOD RESPONSE
Yet, soon after conceding on Sunday, India equalised. Sunil Chhetri had a lot to do with that and the matchwinner showing again what a class act he is. But just as important was the contribution of Jeje Lalpekhlua. The Mizo seemed to have taken his form in the Indian Super League (ISL) to this competition. Lalpekhlua scored three goals in four games including one in the final where he could have got a hattrick.
From four goals in five SAFF Cup games in 2013 to 11 in four this time has been the Constantine for instilling selfbelief in these players. That despite handing debuts to 22 players since taking charge again last year. One of them, Lallianzuala Chhangte, is still a teen and he scored twice in another comeback win, in the group phase against Nepal. From lacking goalscorers under Wim Koevermans barring Chhetri to having options such as Chhangte shows that the rebuilding is on course.
BIG NAMES DELIVER
Also if Chhetri, Lalpekhlua, Arnab Mondal and Narayan Das, to name a few, brought their ISL form into this tournament, Rowlin Borges and Holicharan Narzary rediscovered theirs and that is such a crucial part of the rebuilding exercise.
Constantine will remember his first SAFF Cup assignment for India in 2003. India began by losing to Pakistan at packed Bangabandhu stadium in Dhaka and it all went south thereafter. Even then, Afghanistan had brought players who were based in Europe and North America but then, they lacked experience. Thirteen years is a long time in sport and credit to India, therefore, for showing the required tactical discipline against a team that had creamed everyone else in this competition.
But now it’s perhaps time to look beyond south Asia. Australia did that in the Noughties and even Afghanistan are moving to Central Asia. India need to play countries ranked higher regularly to improve and that can’t happen in this competition.
Constantine may have hinted as much and it would help if All India Football Federation took