A doughty draw, snatches of smart football in two heavy defeats and an experience of a lifetime. Neither Khalid Jamil nor his men would have thought of going up against either Panama, Brazil, or Uruguay. But there he was, getting big on Darwin Nunez.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu said his first reaction on learning India’s opponents in this window was to check if it was true.
Manvir Singh against Marquinhos; Vinicius Jr smelling leather as Anirudh Thapa fired an overhead clearance; Thapa’s goal ; Mohammed Sanan making one Uruguay play sit on the floor; Akash Mishra’s right foot; Ryan Williams’s goal and assist and almost spoiling Pedro Morisco’s debut for the Selecao ; Sahal Abdul Samad pulling off a nutmeg against Brazil. Much more. There were times against Brazil, and more against Uruguay, when it seemed a contest between a bantamweight and a superheavyweight. Jamil and the squad will have seen first-hand how clinical top teams are in front of goal; the quality of their crosses (Nahitan Nandez’s delivery for Uruguay’s second goal was where neither Anwar Ali nor Sandhu could reach) and Panama’s accuracy with long-rangers
They happened and nearly 1 lakh watched from the stands in Kolkata and Bengaluru though that number should have been more. Khalid Jamil will watch the games again to understand why five of the 11 goals that India shipped came near or after the hour mark.
But Jamil will also know that, the fadeaway against Uruguay notwithstanding, India tried to play even against top-50 teams . India can play teams between 70-100 in the remaining windows. If Singapore can host Brazil and Argentina can play Benin, why can’t India invite a top-20 team?
Because he thinks this is good for the team, so has India’s saturnine head coach at every available opportunity, caring little for his reputation. Slips in concentration notwithstanding (and that is an important lesson as well), India worked the ball up the park against opponents who had another gear. King’s Cup, Merdeka, CAFA Nations Cup are options that must be looked at. But do not give up on the chance to host top teams once a year. After a long training camp . The good news? The company that got the teams here is keen on doing this ; if nothing else they would like to fail better.
Players who were part of these games and Sunil Chhetri, who was not, have said they want more.
