Many a battle were fought on the pitch of iconic Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi over the years. But the night on August 13, 2008, was truly hist...
Many a battle were fought on the pitch of iconic Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi over the years. But the night on August 13, 2008, was truly historic.
On that day, local boy Sunil Chhetri struck a remarkable hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Tajikistan in the AFC Challenge Cup final to take India to the 2011 Asian Cup finals after 24 years. As the capacity crowd cheered Bob Houghton’s men, many expected this rare title triumph to be India’s game-changer in the decade ahead.
It didn’t. Apart from stray successes, Indian football, at the end of 2020, is still hugely mediocre, have little or no impact at the continental level and full of cosmetic changes. In the last 10 years, beginning 2010, Indian football is more in the news for being hosts or possible hosts of international events than performance on the ground.
In the last 10 years, the only area where India have performed consistently is at the under-16 age group. Not that they made an impression at the world level, but to qualify for the Asian under-16 championships final rounds on all but one occasion was no mean an achievement. Given India’s standing at the Asian level here, it was perfectly right for the Fifa to...
