As I was browsing through the articles in B/R, I was surprised that there were so many Indians in this site following football and none of them have written any article about the recent Nehru Cup victory or about the footballing history or the achievements of India. (Though "minisculest" by international standards, it's something great as far as India is concerned because football hardly gets any support from the Government here and many great footballers who have won medals for India in the Asian Games in the 1950s currently live in the slums. Such is the condition of football and footballers in India. Some of them sold their medals even but still live on one meal a day. Well done, Government of India!)
If anyone has written an article previously about this, I am really sorry that I wrote this one because I didn't come across your article as far as I had searched. Please do share that article with me in case you have written about this.
Pardon me for deviating, but I want to explain to you all how good a footballing nation India once was, before I mention about India's victory. Skip this part if you want to. (though I suggest you read it to know about the slow death of football in India and it's current revival).
A brief introduction about how football fell from grace in India. In the 1950s, India had drawn France 1-1, once, and had beaten few European teams (which are pretty decent by International standards now) . India qualified for the 1950 WC, which they abandoned because they were not allowed to play barefoot. (Pretty stupid , ain't it? Had they bought those frigging boots and went on to play, Indian football would have taken a different course altogether). And till the 1980s, it had a decent patronage . After India won the 1983 Cricket WC, Indians abandoned football(as well as hockey) for good and shifted to cricket .
By the way, I have to mention this. Durand Cup is the third oldest club competition in the world after the FA Cups in England and Scotland and IFA(Indian F'ball Association) Shield is the fourth oldest in the world ! Some of the football clubs in India are older than their counterparts in Europe and South America !
So, basically India's footballing history is basically a riches to rags story and is kind of an anti-climax to a passionate Indian football fan. :(
Anyways , moving to the main story.
Nehru Cup or the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Commission) Nehru Cup is an Int'l f'ball tourney conducted by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), held once every 2 years . Started in 1982, it was not held from 1998 to 2007. This tournament was started to popularise football in India. 5 teams are invited for this tournament.
The first time the hosts won this one was in 2007 beating a strong and an arrogant Syria side, the side to which they lost in the group stages, with a goal from Pradeep in the 44th min. And it sure evoked a lot of football craze among the youth in India
The 2009 edition featured India (hosts), Syria, Kyrgyzstan,Lebanon and Sri Lanka and was held in the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi. The stadium was jam packed for every Indian match (surprisingly!).
Though India got to a bad start with a 0-1 loss to Lebanon, they gathered enough motivation to beat Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka. The last group match, however, they lost to a more talented Syrian side.
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