Chhetri back to save Indian football

For now, everything seems fine on the Indian football front.  A sport that had been suffering for want of a win, the whole of last year finally found a cure and a win.  The Indian coach, Manolo Marquez secured what was needed to get the Indian team back on its stride and what is more into winning ways! The Spaniard realised that if this Indian team needed to move forward it required a striker of retired legend Sunil Chhetri’s class. 

Sadly, there was none in the present lot in that mould. So, the next best solution was getting that retired man back and spare the blushes for the team he had served for over two decades and with distinction. Chhetri returns at age 40, looking fitter than players half his age and instantly becomes a source of inspiration. India thus broke the win-drought with a 3-0 effort over Maldives with Chhetri himself slotting one.

Sunil Chhetri | Photo: AFP

Coach Manolo’s plans thus fructified as he earned his first win with the Indian team in what was a preparatory exercise for the main challenge which is the AFC Cup 2027 qualifiers. Clearly, then the Spaniard’s trump card will be the veteran Chhetri!  What a state of affairs in Indian football. 

None to don a striker’s role with effect and have had to fall back on a retired player to provide the face-saving act!  Not that Chhetri was truly retired and that is a blessing. He continues to be active with Bangalore FC in the ISL and doing what he does best and that is scoring goals. 

Chhetri also is not the first big name in football to return from retirement. There have been precedents say people who support comebacks like this.  World Cup stars have done it, the most prominent being Roger Milla for Cameroon and what a priceless talent he was.

Still, it seemed incredible that Indian football could slip to this level.   The country was once the pick in Asia though several decades ago but for some reason, the slide began and from the latest happening this much is clear, Indian football appears crashing deeper into despair. Gold medalist in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi and thereafter in 1962 in Jakarta India, India had also shown its mettle earlier to that in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics by coming into the semi-final and finishing fourth. 

Indeed, FIFA had once talked of India as the ‘sleeping giant’ and believed the country would rise to prove that it is a power from the Asian continent in the sport. Instead, the turnaround, to say the least, has been shocking. So many questions keep coming up from time to time, but only to find answers eluding.

Back in the mid-eighties, this writer, along with a few other sports journalists, had the rare opportunity of meeting Mewalal, the hero of that historic gold medal win in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 hosted by India in New Delhi. We were in Jabalpur for the National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy when he happened to be there.  It was Mewalal’s goal that had helped India defeat Iran by a solitary goal in the Asian Games final.  Humble to the core and humility personified, that was Mewalal as he touched our emotional chord when he said, “I still preserve that jersey I wore on that big day!” 

The great man is no longer in our midst, but meeting him brought to the fore the pride of a distinguished footballer. Many big names followed him since to serve Indian football until now we have just Chhetri to speak of. That is the agony of any football lover in the country.

Desperate times call for desperate measures it is said. That is what has happened. Coach Manolo realised he would not be able to mould a team with the talents at his command that would deliver. The AFC Asian Cup qualifier's final round is ahead and only one team from amongst India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangladesh can progress past the Group stage. 

In the last edition India did not get past the group stage and what is worse, after losing all its matches. So Chhetri was the answer. There is no question this diminutive striker has been India’s prized possession for some time. With 94 strikes in his national career and placed third behind the legends Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Roger Messi, in terms of goals scored as an active player, Chhetri had a special place in Indian football history.

The AIFF, of course, can only back Coach Manolo’s decision, because as Secretary General Anil Kumar was to tell PTI with important matches ahead, Chhetri could contribute much to the national team to help India move forward in the Asian Cup. A giant of a player in his time the ever-popular I M Vijayan, the Technical Committee Chairman himself believed Chhetri’s age was not a factor. “He is fit and playing well” was his take. 

Nobody could reflect on the paucity of talent which had brought up this situation in the first place. Is this current ecosystem in Indian football with the ISL and the National League not proving conducive to supplying quality players to earn pride in playing for the national team?

These are times in India when several sporting disciplines that had looked dormant had begun to look up. Indian hockey appears to be regaining its touch with back-to-back medals (bronze) in the Olympics.  Badminton stars caught the attention, Table tennis made it to the Olympics for the first time, and Athletics brought forth a world icon by the name of Neeraj Chopra. Indeed, at the official level, it can be said that there has been a general satisfaction that the investments in sports development have begun to provide some cheer. And yet, Indian football is searching for a new dawn!