Indian Football round-up: 5 farces- the 'historic' moments of 2018

This has been an extraordinary year in Indian football, with the Men’s national team playing friendlies against top-notch Asian nations as part of the preparations for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The continental meet will be India’s most important assignment in recent times and the ‘Blue Tigers’ are leaving no stones unturned to make the visit to UAE a fruitful one.

Apart from the positives, there have also been quite a few events which marred Indian football in past calendar year. The following is a list which highlights the incidents which made the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Let us have a look at the 5 farces - 'historic' moments from 2018:

#5 Gourav Mukhi trends worldwide

Many young Indian footballers have made the headline in the past year, from the likes of Sumit Passi to Rahul Bheke. But there is a player who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Here is Gourav Mukhi. The Jharkhand-born scored a goal for Jamshedpur FC in the ongoing ISL, and apparently became the youngest ever goalscorer in the history of the competition. But there's more to it than meets the eye.

Considering the fact that the striker has a full-grown beard and developed biceps, believing he was 16 was rather impossible. As a matter of fact, Mukhi and four others of the state team were allegedly overage during their triumph at the 2015 Sub-Junior National Football Championship. Technically speaking, if he was over 15 back in 2015, how can he 16 three years later?

Just when Indian football was on the rise with improved performances in the past few years, an incident like this is always unwanted. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) should take care that such shameful incidents do not occur again.

#4 Women's Olympic Qualifiers

The Women’s AFC Olympic Qualification Tournament has never been a happy hunting ground for the Indian eves. During the Rio Olympic Qualification, India was shown the door after a 0-7 hammering by a jubilant Myanmar side in the first round itself.

By virtue of an expanded format this time, India has managed to sneak into the second round of the qualification event as the second-placed team. The first round featured a few more teams than usual, and 12 teams made their entry into the next round. Actually, the second round is much similar to the opening round of the previous editions.

This expanded format was not all needed because it will hardly make any difference in the outcome as a whole. The extra set of matches will increase the span of the tournament and nothing more than that. The second round of the Qualifying round will take place in April 2019 while the third round is scheduled for January 2020.

#3 'Historic' matches against China and Jordan

Sunil Chhetri in action during the match against China

The Indian national football team played a few friendlies against higher-ranked sides in the build-up to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The matches against Jordan and China were given utmost importance, with huge media coverage but it was overdone because the fixtures were termed ‘historic’ for no reason.

India has not played many matches against teams like Jordan and China and neither do they share a fierce rivalry. Matches are termed ‘historic’ when it involves games like Iraq vs Iran, Israel vs Palestine or North Korea vs South Korea. Since there's political tension involved, these friendlies are historic in the sense that this event changed the relations between the two sides. Why is a friendly against Jordan historic then?

The display by the ‘Blue Tigers’ in the above-mentioned matches are definitely laudable. They managed to keep much stronger sides at bay during the 90 minutes. But those are no grounds to term these matches as ‘historic’.

#2 Every match cannot be a 'Derby'

Moments before kick-off from a 'Kolkata Derby'

The Indian Super League began five years ago; it was an instant success but it lacks the fan following that traditional football clubs in the country have. For instance, the 10 teams playing in the ISL have been formed more or less a few months before the first season got underway. Although most of the clubs have gained considerable popularity and support, it cannot be compared to clubs like Mohun Bagan, East Bengal or Churchill Brothers FC.

Many of the fixtures in the four-year-old ISL are considered ‘Derby’ for no reason now. For example, ‘The Maha Derby’ involves Mumbai City FC and FC Pune City, Southern Derby is played among Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters FC and Bengaluru FC. There's also a ‘Steel Derby’ involving Bengaluru FC vs Jamshedpur FC as the owners of both these clubs are involved in the steel industry.

None of these matches are derbies. A Derby is a match involving emotions, where the fans live the game just the 22 players inside the rectangle!

Just imagine the atmosphere inside the Salt Lake Stadium during a match between Mohun and East Bengal, a rivalry which dates back to 1925, or imagine the atmosphere when Manchester City play against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium. Those are the real derbies. Not these.

#1 Overconfident U23 Indian team at the SAFF Championships

Subhashish Bose was India's skipper during the SAFF Championships

Being the most successful team in the history of the SAFF Cup tournament and going by its recent form, it was expected that the ‘Blue Tigers’ would clinch their 8th SAFF Championship title. But a 1-2 loss to the Maldives, a lower-ranked team was the least that was expected from the national team. The players alone can’t be blamed for the outcome.

In an attempt to give youngsters an opportunity at the top level, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) overlooked the cream of the squad, leaving behind skipper Sunil Chhetri, veterans like Balwant Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sandesh Jhingan.

The federation was under the assumption that a second-string team comprising the U-23 players was capable of pulling off the coup but they fell short at the end. Although India convincingly reached the finals, Maldives had the last laugh.

With a big ticket tournament like AFC Asian Cup around the corner, coach Stephen Constantine should have played his senior members as a part of the preparation for the continental meet.

The Englishman said that lack of experience was the main reason for the downfall in the title clash. This tournament should have been made to use more judiciously by the federation then. What to say? They were just overconfident.