When India were pitted against Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in Group A of the Asian Football Confederation U-16 championships in Goa, national coach Nicolai Adam said the concept Group of Death was mere terminology and that rankings were irrelevant in age-group football. This view can be justified by analysing the results of the league fixtures in the four groups.
Twice continental age group champions South Korea finished third in Group C and did not advance to the knockout quarter-final league stage. A powerhouse in Asian football, Australia finished last in Group B, losing all their three matches.
Nicolai was only partially right, as regards India’s performance. India played gallantly but ultimately finished last in the group, with just one point from three matches. India scored five and conceded nine goals whilst losing 2-3 to the UAE and 0-3 to Iran but fought back to hold Saudi Arabia to a 3-3 draw.
Despite an exposure trip to Europe, the India U-16 team were eliminated in the group phase, well below their best performance in these Asian U-16 championships, quarter-finalists in the 2002 edition.
India qualified for the final round in the 2002 edition held at Abu Dhabi, UAE. Coached by Uzbek Islam Akhmedov, India lost to China 1-4 but beat Myanmar 4-1 and drew 1-1 with the UAE, before losing 1-3 to South Korea in the quarter-finals. Defender Gourmangi Singh, goalkeeper Subroto Paul and forward Jerry Zirsanga all future internationals were the stars of India’s U-16 team in 2002.
The 2016 tournament match statistics show that India were lively in attack but fragile in defence. On paper India’s performance looks average but there are several positives also. Above all India did not get overawed by highly-rated opposition and attacked relentlessly. India led 2-0 against UAE and 2-1 against Saudi Arabia. Even mighty Iran led only 1-0 till the 81st minute but scored twice in the last ten minutes off penalty kicks.
India’s variety and speed in attack was awesome to behold. They also did not rely only on one goalscorer. Five different players scored goals, Sanjeev Stalin and Boris Singh (against UAE) and Aniket Jadhav, Aman Chetri and Suresh Singh (penalty) in the draw with Saudi Arabia. Skipper Suresh was cool as a cucumber as he converted a penalty kick in the fifth minute of added time to help India get a thrilling 3-3 draw against Saudi Arabia.
Another positive was that by their enthralling display, India won the admiration of the spectators in Goa. Over 4,000 fans watched them in action against Saudi Arabia which as Nicolai said is phenomenal for age group football.
India’s daring and acrobatic goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem made several important saves especially against Iran. However the defence slackened and left gaps and in all three matches India conceded goals in the last quarter due to fading concentration. These weaknesses Nicolai must plug in coming months.
The quarter-finals this week-end are Iran vs Vietnam, Oman vs Uzbekistan, Japan vs UAE and North Korea vs Iraq. Iran could play Japan in the final on October 2 as they are the two best teams in the tournament so far.
