How to build on the U-17 WC performance

Even as India beat Macau 4-1 to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the U-17 colts have been putting up a great display in the first-ever FIFA tournament being held in the country. With great strides being taken when it comes to football in India, we ask football players and sports commentators what else needs to be done for the our football team to hit the big league. We also ask them about the prospects of the U-17 Indian football team in the tournament.

‘The exposure we have seen this year was much needed’
Collin Abranches, Bengaluru FC
I t’s a very important stage for Indian football this year because we have qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup as well as the World Cup, which is being held in India this year. In fact, even the World Cup team is doing pretty well despite seeing a loss in the last few matches. But, I see the boys going strong. I just hope they stay together, stick to each other like a team and grow together as a team, since this will prove really important for them. The exposure we have seen this year was much needed. We need to play some more friendly matches with big teams and I think it’s going to start with the U-17 only as they learn and grow up with the skill the opponent has so that in the future, they can match the skill of the opponent. The U-17 team has given a good performance and they should win the game they are playing today for something to happen. The performance of the boys has been good and that’s all the Indian team wanted.

‘Will this talent be nurtured?’
Chetan Sharma, Former Cricketer
What we saw in the U-17 World Cup was that there is no dearth of talent in Indian football. Everybody was impressed, but there was only once concern that they had — will this talent be nurtured? Even ten years ago we had great talent, and by now, we should have had an outstanding team, but unfortunately, that is not the case. While I cannot pinpoint the specific steps that can be taken, it is a great thing that India is striving to shift the focus from cricket to other sports. We need to emerge as a country that excels in every field and not just in sport.

‘A major concern right now is the availability of coaches’
I.M. Vijayan, former striker of Indian football team team, Arjuna awardee
With the advent of ISL and U-17 World Cup, people in India have started to talk about the sport. For the World Cup, we have built  good infrastructure and the future of the sport rests on how we use it to develop players. We should scout for players from the U-8 category onwards and give them good training. The major concern we are facing right now is the availability of coaches. The All India Football Federation and government agencies should concentrate on training the coaches according to world standards. Our senior team is also doing well and I think their qualification for the Asia Cup is a major achievement. It has not been defeated in the past 12 games. And victories like these promote the game in our country. Now even parents are interested in football! There should be good academies and the AIFF should start preparing for the next World Cup now itself. There are a lot of talented players and what we lack is exposure and grassroot development. We can match any team if we get the support.

‘Need to seriously train teams when they are young’
Henry Menezes, CEO WIFA, former India national football team goalkeeper
Both the U-17 and the Indian senior team are doing fairly well. And their record throughout this competition has been very high. This is after eight years that we are making a qualifying entry to the Asian Cup.

The football talent in the country has the power to be in the Asian Cup every year. It is high time we work towards making that possible because until and unless we rank in the top ten or top five teams in Asia, we won’t be able to go beyond that. At this moment, we are a South Asian powerhouse, but we need to focus on becoming an Asian powerhouse. That is a bit difficult considering how we are looking at Iran and Iraq for the World Cup. And also our competition will be countries like South Korea, Japan, North Korea — they are among top 10 teams of Asia that are doing very well. And we have to study why they are doing so well. I once saw three Japanese guys come as a study group watching the matches and examining the tactics and techniques practiced by the team. We need to get to the mode to become serious about what we want to do. We also need to seriously train teams when they are young — especially the U-8 team.

‘Youngsters need to be given a competitive match experience’
Ashwin Muralidharan, Football Writer
The FIFA U-17 World Cup has given us a world-class infrastructure and a talented bunch of youngsters. But to ensure this does not just become a happy memory, the stadiums need to be maintained. And most importantly, these youngsters need to be given proper competitive match experience. This is where AIFF’s move to get them to play the I-League as part of the Arrows team is commendable. Also, we need to implement age-group tournaments, which run throughout a season. European countries have such leagues from U-10 level. That, I think, will be the real legacy of this U-17 World Cup. Hopefully, great times ahead!