SAFF Championship 2013: Koevermans' India comes out of Sunil Chhetri’s shadow

India progressed to the final of the 2013 SAFF Championship courtesy a 1-0 win over Maldives in the semi-final

Following some unconvincing displays in the group stage, India were viewed as the underdogs for their 2013 SAFF Championship semi-final against Maldives, and the absence of the suspended Sunil Chhetri further decreased India’s chances on paper.

Ever since Bhaichung Bhutia’s retirement, Chhetri has been India’s talisman and especially in the Wim Koevermans era, the national team has been over-reliant on their 29-year-old captain. The statistics also back this claim, as prior to the Maldives game on Monday, Sunil had scored almost half of India’s goals during Koevermans’ reign and his international goals tally is more than the combined total of the remaining 16 outfield players of the 2013 SAFF squad.

But like the rest of the team, Chhetri was off colour in the group stage, as he was wasteful in front of goal with the injury-time equaliser against Bangladesh being the only highlight. Possibly, he was unable to take all the pressure and his suspension was seen as a big blow to India’s chances.

Chhetri’s absence encouraged the three remaining semi-finalists with Maldives skipper Ali Ashfaq branding Koevermans’ side as the weakest Indian team that he has ever seen. India were expected to match their dismal showing in the 2003 SAFF Championship where they failed to reach the final.

The media back home and the ones travelling to Kathmandu were highly critical of their performances and rightly so. Therefore, suddenly from favourites India went to being underdogs, with the players having a point to prove to their critics and Ashfaq. That’s what they did on Monday evening and that too in impressive fashion.

Instead of dwelling on the absence of their skipper in such a big game, Koevermans’ India looked a hungrier and fresher outfit with the three days’ rest before their semi-final also playing a key role. But above all, tactically they were brilliant, as they frustrated Maldives skipper and talisman Ali Ashfaq throughout the game.

Koevermans has got a lot of stick this calendar year, but on Monday he tactically outclassed Hungarian Istvan Urbanyi, who was completely irrational after the game claiming Maldives were dominant where in fact the island nation failed to significantly work India goalkeeper Subrata Pal from open play in the entire 90 minutes.

India’s Dutch coach revealed after the game that he had used Ashfaq’s comments in his team talk to motivate the players.

“Coaches generally tend to do that (take advantage of such statements). Obviously we didn’t play well in the group stage but when the opposition keeps talking about it then we have to make the most of it,” he said.

Koevermans added though, that despite all that external motivation, his side still had to go out and give a strong team performance. That is exactly what the Gouramangi Singh-led side did against Maldives and it’s fair to say that they came out of skipper Chhetri’s shadow to beat Maldives.

During the Bob Houghton era, the Indian national team was completely under the shadow of superstars Bhutia and Chhetri. Following Bhutia’s retirement, Chhetri became the main man, with some suggestions that India had become a one-man team.

But Koevermans’ boys showed that they can perform well and get a big result even without Chhetri. In fact, the win on Monday was India’s first victory in the absence of Chhetri (or Bhutia) since 2008. That result was achieved in the 2008 SAFF Championship when a Renedy Singh-led India team defeated Maldives 1-0 in Male.

Both teams had already reached the semis before that final group match and Houghton decided to rest key players. Gouramangi netted the winner in that game and ironically, the Manipuri was the captain again against Maldives on Monday.

The India camp was lacking in confidence before the semi-final, but now it’s sky-high again. But the players will be well aware that they have won nothing yet and will be wary of Afghanistan in the final with the Afghans determined for revenge after that loss in the 2011 final.

However the fact that Koevermans’ side got a major result without the services of Chhetri will be a massive boost for the entire Indian football fraternity. Now they would hope that the return of the captain will make the team stronger and see India complete a hat-trick of SAFF Championship titles for the very first time.