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Sportskeeda continues this series by looking back at India’s performance in the 1986 edition.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Atanu Bhattacharya (Bengal), Brahmanand Shankwalkar (Salgaocar SC).
Defenders: Sudip Chatterjee (East Bengal Club - CAPTAIN), Krishendu Roy (Bengal), Tarun Dey (Bengal), Aloke Mukherjee (Bengal), Derrick Pereira (Goa), V.P. Sathyan (Kerala Police), Charanjit Singh (Punjab State Electricity Board).
Midfielders: Prasanta Banerjee (Bengal), Bikash Panji (East Bengal Club), Debashish Mishra (East Bengal Club), Mauricio Afonso (Dempo SC).
Forwards: Krishanu Dey (East Bengal Club), Biswajit Bhattacharya (East Bengal Club), Babu Mani (Bengal), Sisir Ghosh (Bengal), Camillo Gonsalves (Goa).
Coach: PK Banerjee (Bengal); Manager: PP Lakshamanan (Kerala).
Overview
Following their quarter-final appearance in the 1982 Asian Games, India also qualified for the 1984 Asian Cup. It was their first appearance in the continent’s biggest competition in two decades. So there was optimism going into the 1986 edition of the Asian Games but team unity was lacking due to differences between the stars of Calcutta clubs. The tough group stage draw alongside South Korea, China and Bahrain made India’s task of reaching the quarters even harder.
India started the campaign against hosts South Korea and were comprehensively beaten 3-0. Up next was China in a repeat of the group stage encounter from the 1982 edition. In that previous meeting India managed a 2-2 draw but in 1986 China won 2-1 with Debashish Mishra’s goal only proving to be a consolation. India ended the campaign early with a 3-0 defeat against Bahrain.
It was for the second time after 1974 that India were eliminated with a 100% losing record and the team’s poor showing contributed to the government’s decision of not clearing the football team to participate in the 1990 and 1994 editions. They would make their return only in 1998.
Novy Kapadia’s Insight
Factionalism ruined India’s prospects in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. The controversy was because of the captaincy. Sudeep Chatterjee was appointed captain but midfielder Prasanta Banerjee felt he was senior and was deprived of a chance to be leading the side.
Prasanta complained of an injury and refused to play a single match. The team got divided into two camps and were not focussed and did not do justice to their talents.
Team manager PP Lakshamanan wrote a scathing report against the attitude of the Bengal players. This report and subsequent poor displays by the national team led to the lack of clearance for the Indian football team for the 1990 Beijing and 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games.
India was in a tough group with hosts South Korea, China and Bahrain and qualification for the quarter-finals was difficult. But lack of harmony and effort was galling.
Results
Round 1
Group 1
September 20 1986: India 0-3 South Korea
September 22 1986: India 1-2 China
Indian scorer: Debashish Mishra.
September 26 1986: India 0-3 Bahrain.
Final position: Eliminated from the group stage
