January 10: A walk down Indian football's memory lane

January 10 has been a special day over the last couple of years for Indian football. In 2011, on this day, India faced Australia in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, and a year later in 2012, Team India took on German Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich in the Audi Football Summit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. And I was lucky, due to my work, to be at both these games in Doha and New Delhi. 2011, at the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, the match against Australia at the Al Sadd Stadium was the return of Team India to the continental stage after 27 long years. And it was a proud moment to hear the Indian anthem and see the team take on one of the best sides in Asia.The Aussies, without a doubt, were deserving 4-0 winners (Here is my report: India lose 0-4 against Aussies, but not disgraced), but as I mention in my headline, India were not disgraced.

A year later I was part of the organising team of the India vs FC Bayern Munich game in New Delhi. Under the title of Audi Football Summit, the Bavarian giants came to India to take on our national team, which also happened to be an emotional farewell match for Baichung Bhutia.

Bayern Munich did win 4-0 and showed glimpses of what they are capable of playing, but again, India didn’t succumb to a superior opponent. (My report of the match: FC Bayern Munich win, but India not humiliated).

This year I arrived back in Kolkata from Germany on January 10, and I hope for more historic January 10′s in the future.