When Makon Thierry stepped up to take the fifth kick in the penalty shoot-out, everyone in the stadium and the millions watching on television across the country were hoping Subrata Paul would pull off something special and save the day for India. It was reminiscent of 2009.
The kick was taken and Subrata could not reach the ball, but as luck would have it, the ball came back off the post. Hardly anyone expected Thierry to miss, but he did.
Pandemonium followed as the crowd of more than 20,000 who had come to cheer for India invaded the pitch to soak up the euphoria. It is not a usual scene when the Indian football team is in action.
It was a moment to cherish for every football lover in the country. Even though the two-time defending champions went into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team, they defied the odds and pulled off a spectacular victory over the ‘African giants’. The win was sweet, and what made it sweeter was that India had beaten a team like Cameroon, a global force in the sport.
Before the Nehru Cup, Wim Koevermans and his players did not look too worried about the rankings, as they felt their poor ranking was due to a lack of matches on FIFA dates. At the time it seemed a weak defence, but they have now shown that rankings hardly matter and that the team is much better than the ranking tables suggest.
The man behind the success is India’s new Dutch coach, Koevermans. He had just over a month to instil his style of football in the Indian team. The best part of his stint so far is that, in such a short time, he has been able to bond with the players and work out each player’s strengths and weaknesses.
The win over Cameroon is a clear sign of good things to come, and if the AIFF sticks with him, he can do wonders. There was speculation over whether he would be able to instil a possession game in such a short time, and he has now proved the critics wrong.
Koevermans is one of the best things to have happened to Indian football, and his approach of keeping long-term goals in mind rather than thinking short term will take the game to a higher level, provided the AIFF persists with him.
Playing in the World Cup or the Olympics remains a distant dream, but Koevermans has already sown the seeds. The main task now is to work hard and make sure they bear fruit.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
