FIFA U-17 cup: On and off the field, many lessons for India
F IRST day, first show, there were many glitches, on and off the field, for hosts India in the FIFA under-17 World Cup at the Nehru Stadium. If anyone had said this Indian side was going to do damage against the US team, he would have only been fooling himself. Up next is Colombia, on Monday, a side which will be itching to pump in as many goals as possible against India after having lost their opener.
There are many ways of reporting a football match. If you are writing about top level club matches, there can be no room for bias. Howsoever patriotic one feels about the national team, even if a junior side, finally you are evaluated based on performance and not emotions.
Those who were inside the Nehru Stadium on Friday say the patriotic fervour was high. It’s nice to cheer your country and egg on the under-17 boys, but one cannot become myopic in watching reality, be it inside the stadium or on television.
First things first, to compare India with the US would be wrong. Physical superiority, tactical strength and experience of playing in front of a bigger audience, the US side had everything in their favour. A 3-0 margin may not look like a rout, but it was a demolition of sorts for India, unless you happen to be extremely patriotic and say the side played well. To “play well” is a phrase which can, at best, be used in friendly matches or in club sporting events.
This young Indian side has travelled a lot abroad and spent time together in the camps. Yet, the defensive approach of Indian coach Luis Norton de Matos was pronounced. Packing the defence and assigning two more in defensive roles in the midfield, it wasn’t going to work. The coach had no Plan B for the US side once they started using the aerial ball. As a result they could score three goals, which was enough for an opening match.
Against Colombia, India will need more ideas, and these have to come from the coach as he is the man in charge of implementation.
However much one talks of rhetoric, a coach is finally judged by how he delivers. de Matos will be aware of this. Away from the arena, inside the stadium, there was intense misery for a majority of the spectators. No drinking water, no food to buy, this was one of the worst case scenarios which could have unfolded.
One thought, after the mistakes of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, when spectators faced a lot of problems in the name of security, matters would change. That, sadly, has been a constant and for people not to be allowed to carry their car remote keys in the name of security was bizarre.
There was a hue and cry over the way the CWG ticket sales were messed up. If you try to buy tickets online for the FIFA under-17 World Cup, it will say it’s sold out. It’s reported that thousands of tickets have been bought in bulk and “distributed.” Whether it has reached the genuine football fan is not clear.
Yet, to herd in thousands of school children from Gurugram in Haryana and not provide them drinking water and food till 9pm on Friday was inhuman. In this kind of stifling afternoon heat, when you can collapse in dehydration, treatment meted out to youth and paying spectators was crazy. For drinking water bottles not be to sold inside the stadium in the name of security is unacceptable. You can provide water in packets like in Indian Railways and now even in markets.
If you want fans to come and cheer and chant “Bharat Mataa Ki Jai” please do not make them face hardships. Nobody is saying provide them lavish food from five-star hotels. But if kids brought in from NCR and Haryana schools will be left to starve and without water, this is punishment.
Mail Today has learnt that for Monday’s match, kids could be brought in from Sonepat, Haryana! Well done, as organisers need to show the arena is full. But if this is being done at the cost of meting out harsh treatment to the young fans and paying public, this cannot be accepted.
Whether it’s the sports ministry, or the Sports Authority of India and the local organising committee, all need to work together for making the FIFA under-17 World Cup in the capital a pleasurable experience, not one of immense suffering.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)
Also read: What a football match taught me about new India