Vishnu Prasad By

Express News Service

The more things look like changing, the more they stay the same. Triggering hope now and back to square one soon after, it was a topsy-turvy year for the Indian football team. Vishnu Prasad relives the moments endured by Sunil Chhetri & Co

Is there a more excruciating task than covering Indian football?”

It’s only natural for that question to come up when you’re sitting in a press box, watching the national team concede a 90th-minute winner after leading Oman for 80 minutes. And when the equally exasperated and disappointed reporter sitting next to you returns a glance that betrays just how much his heart sank in the last 30 seconds, that question escapes, sometimes verbally, sometimes on WhatsApp or as a tweet.

In 2019, covering Indian football was everything that football tends to be — at times full of hope, at times the very epitome of despair, a moment of unfiltered euphoria here and one of crushing agony there. Maybe that’s why you get the sense that Indian football may finally have come of age. Finally, it’s making you feel. There have been years when it was one long spell of numbness.

The year began with cautious optimism. Stephen Constantine’s young team was going to take on the continental bigwigs at the Asian Cup. There were a couple of good results in the build-up — a draw with Marcelo Lippi’s China stood out — but no one really expected the Blue Tigers to be anything more than an afterthought on the big stage. After all, this was the team that had conceded 13 goals in three games, the last time they made it there.

Then that first match happened. Eyebrows were raised when India took the lead early but when Thailand equalised minutes later, they went back down in exasperation. Been there, seen this! Then Sunil Chhetri scored a second. “Ok!” Anirudh Thapa scored a third. “Wait, what’s happening?” Jeje Lalpekhlua scored a fourth. “Is this for real?” The final whistle sounded at 4-1.

A generation that had grown up treating as gospel the assumption that India’s football team was only going to win matches at the SAFF Cup was now watching them convincingly thrash somebody at the Asian Cup. It sure took some time to digest, but no one was complaining about the taste!

The very next match though, the footballing gods pulled the lever from the very top to the very bottom as the dials swung to the other extreme of the pleasure-pain index. Hosts UAE were being outplayed, but every shot that an Indian player hit seemed to strike the bar. If only one went in, we could dream of so much more! In the end, they lost 2-0. Another excruciating result against Bahrain followed — a match conceded only via a penalty in the first minute of extra time. The Asian adventure was over.

That was January but it already seemed like nothing that year would top it. How wrong we were! Seven months later, the national team again aroused hope when it needn’t have, and then poured cold water all over it. Constantine was gone and had been replaced by Igor Stimac. Instead of the Asian Cup, the stage was now the World Cup qualifiers. He had the track record — a World Cup bronze medallist for Croatia as a player. As a coach, he had taken his national team nearly to the same stage. The early results weren’t spectacular, but held promise. Thailand were beaten on their turf in the King’s Cup. That performance followed a half of good football against a Curacao team that had Premier League players among their ranks.

The Intercontinental Cup that followed saw India hold Syria 1-1. And Stimac had implemented a style that involved a lot more than hoofing it up north and hoping Chhetri did something with it.

Oman was visiting and a noisy Guwahati crowd roared India on as they led for 80 minutes on a hot, humid evening. “We can actually get to the next round,” the more optimistic among us whispered. “Hold on to this, beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh like we always do in the SAFF Cup. We’re there.” One small step for this team. One giant leap for Indian football. Then Oman scored, not one but two. “Why?” the gods were asked repeatedly. “Why not?” they laughed back.

At least the reporters and the fans had learnt their lesson. Indian football was not to be trusted, it was a poor investment, especially when the currency in question was something as valuable as hope. Nothing was going to change. Not unless the grassroots improved, the players were better, the league had four tiers and 40 teams. In short, not ever.

Qatar high

Only then, they went and held the Asian champions Qatar. In the very next match! Without the talismanic Chhetri! Gurpreet Singh Sandhu pulled out a goalkeeping performance that deserves its own biopic. Sandesh Jhingan and Adil Khan defended like their grandmothers were having a nap inside the goal. Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad and Ashique Kuruniyan hit Qatar on the counter so regularly in the second half that the possibility of a win briefly flickered. Qatar had only failed to score against three other teams that year until that point — Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. And now India. It was a brave new world!

Except, it wasn’t. The next match was a draw with neighbours Bangladesh that so nearly was a loss. The celebrations that followed (Viking Clap) was a joke. Then a draw with Afghanistan that, once again, so nearly was a loss. Then a loss against Oman that should have been a heavier loss. Any chances of progression to the next round was extinguished. The world was dull and grey again. Shakes of the head and face-palms all round.

Indian football, bloody hell!

ISL over I-League

The most significant change of the year for Indian football was the installation of ISL as the top flight. With AFC rules giving India an extra place in continental competitions, the top two ISL sides in the group stages will now qualify for the AFC Champions League. The other spot will go to the winners of the I-League. The two leagues will run parallel for another five years.

New coach

The year, for Indian football, began with the Asian Cup, a tournament that was to be Englishman Stephen Constantine’s final one in charge. His replacement generated a great deal of hype. Croat Igor Stimac has not only played at the highest level — he was part of Croatia’s 1998 World Cup team — he has also coached the country. The results, since he took charge, have been mixed.

Champions in exile

The most heartwarming story of the Indian football season was Chennai City FC’s victory in I-League’s last season as India’s top-flight. The Tamil Nadu outfit, who were playing in Coimbatore because they could not afford a ground in their home city Chennai, finished above bigger clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan despite only having a fraction of their budget.

Bengaluru win ISL

Bengaluru FC rectified the heartbreak of the season before when they had lost in the final, by going all the way. After topping the group stages for the second straight year, Carles Cuadrat’s men defeated FC Goa in the final. The other talking point of the season was the abysmal title defence that Chennaiyin FC mounted, eventually finishing rock-bottom of the table.