On Saturday night, the Indian football team gave their fans a night to remember. Against a team ranked more than 38 places higher on the FIFA rankings list, in the financial capital of the country, The Blue Tigers stepped up their game like never before. After going down early, our players rallied and ultimately ran out victors with an unbelievable 4-1 scoreline.
Also Read: India 4-1 Puerto Rico: Player Ratings
Minor continental championships aside, it has been a long time since Indian football fans have had anything to cheer about (the world cup qualifying campaign was an unmitigated disaster) with their chances in one competition after the other falling by the wayside. The most ardent of fans however, could see the one silver lining, something that has only just started paying dividends.
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Something that has been a hallmark of national coach Stephen Constantine’s two spells in charge of the Indian team so far is his focus on assembling a pool of players who can serve the Indian National team for a long time to come. During his last stint in the early 2000s, Constantine came up with the likes of Climax Lawrence, Steven Dias and Jo Paul Ancheri, players who would go on to serve the country with great distinction.
The British-Cypriot tactician has not disappointed this time around either. While the current core of the national team is of course mostly made up of some of the old warhorses (players who will be discussed about in detail later on in the piece), there are also players that can essentially be termed as Stephen Constantine finds with an even bigger contingent constantly waiting in the winds, constantly knocking on the doors.
What is extremely impressive, in fact impressive to the point of overwhelming, is the amount of young talent that Constantine has managed to garner and has ready at his disposal. The average age of the team that annihilated Puerto Rico on Saturday was just 23. Sometimes numbers do speak volumes!
Another number that is going to undoubtedly showcase Constantine’s managerial prowess is the national team’s newest FIFA ranking which is sure to go up a good number of places owing to the victory against a higher ranked opposition in Puerto Rico. A big question that is sure to be on the back of every Indian football fan’s mind is what happens when the current old guard finally hang up their boots.
Spearheaded by talismanic leader Sunil Chhetri, the likes of Jeje Lalpekhlua, Subrata Pal and Arnab Mondal (the latter still relatively young at 26) have been amazing and honest servants of the game for India. Chhetri is arguably the greatest field player India has ever produced, as is Subrata in the goalkeeping department; ergo these are difficult boots to fill!
What Constantine has managed to shrewdly do is assemble a large pool of potential future stars in every position. By giving all of these players sufficient game time, the gaffer is slowly but steadily streamlining to those he feels are the most worthy of representing their country on the international stage.
The current national team already bears a distinct identity, one separating it from previous national sides. One can perhaps even go on to say that this national side is more of a Constantine side than any other.
What will also give the coach a massive amount of heart is that many of the youngsters blooded by him have stepped up and have now become regulars for the senior squad. The likes of Jackichand Singh, Halicharan Narzary, Bikash Jairu, Sumeet Passi, Seityasen Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Pronay Halder and Eugeneson Lyngdoh are all alive and kicking and surely on their way to great things.
The arrival of the Indian Super League to Indian shores at almost the same time as Stephen Constantine has most certainly helped the head chef. Players have been exposed to a greater level of challenge and have imbibed the experience of playing with former World Cup winners and what not. However, for Constantine, the ISL is not where the buck stops.
This coach hasn’t been shy of picking up players from the lower tiers of Indian football, players to have not yet played in the I-League or the ISL. Case in point is Mizoram’s Lallianzuala Chhangte. Aged just 18, Chhangte was handpicked to play for the Indian team I the 2015 SAFF Championships based on his form for DSK Shivajians who were then playing in the U-19 I-League.
Chhangte had the kind of debut to international football that players can only dream of. Remember Federico Macheda’s dream debut for Manchester United? Chhangte’s was not far behind. Coming on as a substitute in the game against Nepal, the youngster scored two absolutely unbelievable goals helping his team earn a 4-1 victory, coincidentally the same scoreline by which they triumphed over The Blue Huricanes on Saturday.
And it is not just Chhangte that makes the future of Indian football look so very bright. Wherever you look there are names. Amrinder Singh, Vinit Singh, Arjun Tudu, Rowlin Borges, Isaac Vanmalsawma, Chinglensana Singh, Fanai Lalrempuia, Rino Anto, Daniel Lalrempuia, Alwyn George, the list of potential game changes literally goes on and on.
It may have become too late now for the 2018 World Cup but The Blue Tigers are still in the hunt for qualification to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and damn, that would be a good place to start as India look to win back some of their long lost standing in the footballing world!
An overwhelming majority of the players being looked at so keenly currently, being in their early 20s, the groundwork has most certainly been laid for the creation of the team that will hopefully serve India proudly for the upcoming decade or so. Focus 2022 and 2026. Eagle eyes! Period.
There is also a shift that Constantine is trying to undersee in terms of leadership within the team. While it will be foolish of anybody to deny the influence that Sunil Chhetri has had on Indian football and he remains as natural a leader as he ever was, Constantine’s decision of handing over the captain’s armband to Gurpreet Singh for the Puerto Rico match was an incredibly welcome decision.
The experience that Gurpreet has gained in Europe is something that he needs to share with the younger members of the team and what better way to make the team stronger than to name your strongest achiever in the professional sense of the word as the team captain. The former captain, Chhetri, being the force and team player that he is, just takes it in his stride and turns in one of his personal best performances ever.
There can be nothing that shows a better example of team harmony and overall squad development.
The senior squad is firing on all cylinders but, there is another aspect to Indian football that at the moment is going great guns and is incredibly easy to overlook. When having a holistic discussion on the state of Indian football in general and the way forward, one should not forget the Indian U-17 team that is gearing up to represent the country on home soil in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Coached by Nicolai Adam, the team has been on one exposure tour after the other and has been dismantling (on paper) stronger opposition with stunning ease time and again. Let’s be honest, some of the boys look incredibly impressive. The likes of Aniket, Komal, Aman Chetri, Boris are all little explosions just waiting to happen.
Adam has done an amazing job with these kids and if they can continue developing the way they have so far, with Constantine at the helm, the day may not be far off when we may see some of these boys don the senior team jersey. Bar the golden era of the 60s and the 70s, Indian football has never had too many takers.
Empty stadiums, improper playing surfaces and a relatively poor quality of football on display make up the usual suspects at the majority of games played in this apparently football country nation of 1.3 billion. For me, the maths just does not add up but it’s still there for everyone to see.
Hopefully with more victories and displays of the sort we witnessed on Saturday and by qualifying for major tournaments, the shift in balance can be restored. Sure, the ISL is doing its part but it the Indian national team that every Indian football fan truly wants to see succeed.
The only way forward is to identify more and more players with the potential of representing the country. Thankfully, at the helm, we do have a man now who seems to know what he is doing. With his contract running out in February of next year, it is imperative that the AIFF renew the man’s contract at the earliest.
Indian football may not be at the towering heights it once was at, but damn, we are going in the right direction and with the ability at our disposal, damn, it is an exciting time to be an Indian football fan. It is hard, sure, but pretty darn exciting!
