THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

India’s AFC U-16 Championship dream shattered by Kuwait

The India U-16 national team has lost its final AFC U-16 Championship Qualifier against Kuwait 1-2 a few moments ago.

Kuwait dominated the match right from the kick-off and the hosts took the lead just eight minutes into the game. A long ball found Khaled in the box just to see him putting the ball past India keeper Dheeraj Singh into the back of the net.

Goutam Ghosh’s team knew that they had to win the match to qualify for the AFC U-16 Championship 2014 finals, but they had a tough time against their strong Arab rivals.

It took Team India around 25 minutes to slowly adjust a little bit to the Kuwaiti domiance, but the Indian colts were not able to test the Kuwaiti goal despite having more possession in the later stages of the first half.

Kuwait played a clever game, but there was a feeling that the India U-16 national team could score the equalisier moments before the half-time. Riding on the support by the vociferous Indian fans at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium, India put the Kuwaiti defence under pressure. But there was no challenge on the goal except a shot which was saved by keeper Omar.

Kuwait increased their lead in this period, when the referee awarded the hosts a questionable penalty kick in the injury time of the first half. India keeper Dheeraj Singh touched Khaled’s chin with his gloves while running past the Kuwaiti player, which was judged as a violent conduct by the referee. Salem converted the resulting penalty kick to hand Kuwait a 2-0 lead at half-time.

The Indian colts came back from the lemon-break with more confidence and the confidence that they could turn the match in their favour.

And the Indian pressure finally paid off, when substitute Krishna Pandit scored for Goutam Ghosh’s team to the delight of the Indian fans in the stands.

But the goal was not enough to start a comeback for the Indian team. Kuwait did the minimum to the keep their box safe for the remainder of the second half and to secure them a direct qualification to the AFC U-16 Championship finals next year.

India played a decent qualifying campaign despite losing the final game against Kuwait today. India drew their first match against Tajikistan (1-1) and the two other matches against Lebanon (4-1) and Bhutan (8-1).

India (7 points / +9 goal difference) finish their Group A qualifying campaign third behind group winners Kuwait (12 points / +11 goal difference) and Tajikistan (7 points / +16 goal difference).

Detailed match stats to follow shortly…

AFC U-16 Championship 2014 – Qualifier | Group A | Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium, Kuwait City (Kuwait)
KUWAIT U-16 2-1 INDIA U-16

GOALS
1-0 Khaled (8′)
2-0 Salem (45’+2′)
2-1 Krishna Pandit (65′)

LINE-UPS

Kuwait U-16

Unused Subs

India U-16
1 Moirangthem Dheeraj Singh – 2 Moirangthem Jayananda Singh, 3 Jerry Lalrinzuala, 5 Prosenjit Chakraborty, 22 Amit Tudu [C] – 8 Kyntiew Kharlukhi (72′ 6 Bodo Baoringdaom), 14 Anirudh Thapa, 19 Nuruddin, 28 Amey Ranawade – 15 Laishram Bedashwor Singh (62′ 17 Krishna Pandit), 38 Nijwm Muchahary (85′ 21 Edmund Lalrindika)

Unused Subs
4 Thongam Kishan Singh, 9 Surya Tirkey, 12 Subrata Das, 18 Deependra Singh Negi, 25 Anuj Kumar, 27 Hoble Kapil Satish, 30 Aaron Franklin Rodrigues, 31 Bugde Vineet Bikas, 35 Krishanu Santra

BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
3′ Khaled (Kuwait)
45′ Yousef (Kuwait)
46′ Moirangthem Dheeraj Singh (India)
80′ Prosenjit Chakraborty (India)

Yellow-Red Cards
none

Red Cards
none

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee

Assistant Referees

Fourth Official

Match Commissioner
Shah Ismail (Maldives)

AIFF Match Report

If you want to witness character on Football Field, come watch India’s U-16 boys. Down by two first-half goals, the grit, determination, the one-twos, all combined together with the fighting spirit was displayed to around 2000 NRIs that Indian Football is promising to storm into Continental Championships very soon.

Forget the ovation from the stands, the walk to the Team Bus from the Dressing Room was a Guard of Honour. They clapped, chanted, requested to be posed for Family Albums and enquired about the origin of the Team. One being told that it was a product of AIFF Academies Project, they went back assured.

And then came the comment – “Man this is Arsenal! This is not Indian Football, this is Arsenal….” It came from Mervyn Franco, the brother of Denzil Franco, who had come with his family to cheer.

Krishna Pandit reduced the margin for India in the 64th minute as India went down fighting 1-2 in their last match of the U-16 AFC Qualifiers at the Sabah Al-Salem Stadium. India finished on seven points with Tajikistan but the latter finished second by virtue of better goal difference.

Quite naturally, the boys broke down. It was hard to console them. They have their own dreams and are pursuing it.

The plethora of passes in the midfield was evident. The U-15 boys playing in their first Continental Championship – the U-16 AFC Qualifiers played it in gaps to make the rivals chase.

Down by an early goal scored as early as the 8th minute by an opportunistic Khaled Alenezi who followed a long ball to tap it past Dheeraj Singh, the Indians regrouped, and fast. Anirudh Thapa and Prosenjit Chakraborty stayed the two pivots who rotated, played the one-twos and split the defence, who with their physical prowess were denying the Indians.

Nuruddin was just a livewire down the right flank. He went past Mubarak Alenezi a couple of times to enter the rival box but the Kuwait boys recovered to keep it at bay. With the rivals guessing, the India wards did create some chances but once a Nuruddin shot from inside the box just went out and twice, the rival Goalkeeper Omar Mohammad managed to keep the slate clean. He was an epitome of concentration even as he stooped down to gather some powerful grounders, three of which could have easily bounced back, but didn’t.

As the Indians were playing all over and all in charge, Kuwait, much against the run of play doubled the lead form the spot which was awarded after Dheeraj Singh had gathered the ball to deny a Alenezi shot.

The second-half was totally one-sided. India played in the rival half all throughout as Kuwait defended, and somehow. However, India reduced the margin in the 64th minute – substitute Krishna Pandit sidestepped Naseer Saeed to slot it home.

Thereafter, the domination stayed omnipresent. But Kuwait managed to stretch it to 90 minutes.

History will always remember the result but history is in the making, all for Indian Football. “This is Arsenal.”