Tuesday , March 19 2024

Are Indian Football Youth Team’s finally coming of age???

Sunday, August 5, 2018 was a historic day for Indian football as first, the India U-16s defeated current AFC U-16 champions Iraq in Jordan and then India U-20s beat six-time FIFA U-20 World Cup winners Argentina at the COTIF Cup in Spain.

That has been followed by the India U-19s holding their own against European nations like France, Serbia and Slovenia on a tour of the Balkans despite a heavy loss to Croatia.

And I raise the question, are Indian Football Youth Team’s finally coming of age???

There has been numerous articles and discussions since that day with many highlighting the fact that India has never ever beaten any national teams from Argentina and Iraq, while others focused more of the fact that the Iraq U-16s and the Argentina U-20s were not in full strength and at their best in those matches.

Now I’d like to you give you my perspective on the matter.

Its been a while, but I still would like to congratulate coach Bibiano Fernandes and the India U-16 boys as well as Floyd Pinto and the India U-20 boys for their respective wins over Iraq and Argentina.

Under the new head of national teams Abhishek Yadav with the support of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) besides the Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI), the India youth teams have been going on exposure trips around Europe, Asia and even Australia. All sides from the India U-15s upwards have been given a level of exposure that is unseen in Indian football.

And these results are great for Indian football, but they were in smaller tournaments with bigger tasks ahead. The older boys are going to get more exposure in another season of the I-League as part of the Indian Arrows, while the next real test for the talented India U-16s will be the AFC U-16 Championship, which kicks-off tomorrow in Malaysia. The boys have done a good job in qualifying on merit for the Asian level competition, but for our football development to move forward, it would be needed for us to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup from the AFC U-16 Championship. It would show after India successfully hosted the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup that we can also qualify for such a global competition on merit, something which we have never done in the past.

India are in a group alongside with Vietnam (September 21), last time finalists Iran (September 24), and Indonesia (September 27). If India finish amongst the top two sides in Group C, then India qualify for the quarterfinals and they would then face a team from a strong Group D which features defending champions Iraq, South Korea, Australia and Afghanistan.

So for head coach Bibiano Fernandes and the boys, the challenge starts on Friday and I wish them all the best to achieve a semifinal spot to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.

Common boys and Back the Blue!!!

About Arunava Chaudhuri

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