It’s been a hot and cold year for Indian football on and off the pitch. If the depressing performance in the Asian Cup in Qatar and the acrimonious exit of national coach Bob Houghton were the lows, a bunch of precocious kids have given Indian football something to smile about.

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future, said former US president Franklin Roosevelt. An Englishman, Colm Toal, is doing just that as Indian juniors dish out one impressive performance after another. Tell-tale signs of Indian’s Generation Next are getting eloquently clear.

In Tashkent on October 7, India’s under-16 team qualified for the Asian Football Confederation’s final phase. In a come-from-behind victory, India beat Tajikistan 4-1, a scoreline that left even the team management flattered. This was the second time in four years that the under-16 team made the AFC finals.

India were seeded last in a group that had fancied teams like Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain, hosts Uzbekistan and the Tajiks. To win against higher rated teams and in alien conditions needed mental toughness and the likes of Lalramzuava, Uttam Rai, Sarthak Golui and Daniel Lalhimpuia have exposed a new breed of skillful footballers promising to lend the haggard façade of Indian soccer a much needed facelift.

Qualifying for AFC tournaments is a yardstick to measure the success of India’s coaching schemes. The success of any nation depends on its youth programmes and the All India Football Federation seems to have taken positive strides in this direction. With the help of FIFA and the AFC, expertise and funds are abundantly available and the victory of the under-16 team probably indicates that the youth development programme is in the right direction.

2011 has been an eventful year in Indian soccer. While the age-group teams have provided the silver lining, the senior team has groped in the dark largely due to injuries to key players and poor management. Houghton’s bitter exit handed the reins of the national coach’s job to a Goan, who had been immensely successful at the club level. But Armando Colaco soon found out that managing the national teams in international events like the Olympic qualifiers was a different cup of tea.

But AIFF can be relatively happy with the way the junior boys are shaping up. Credit for this must go to Toal, who has been heading the federation’s youth development schemes. As chief coach, Toal has been the visionary that India has missed for several decades now. Toal has till December 2013 to overhaul India’s soccer foundation as AIFF joins hands with the FIFA to set up regional and elite academies that will spot and nurture talent across the country.

Toal’s alliance with Indian football started in 2007. He was the technical director of the age-group teams in Goa. Very soon he found out that there was no dearth of talent in Indian kids. In a training camp in Germany, India’s under-16 boys scored identical 2-0 wins against three Bundesliga (Germany’s Premier League) teams from Stuttgart, Munich and Augsburg. In 2008, the same team travelled to England and shared honours after a 3-3 draw versus Manchester United’s under-16 team!

“The International matches we have played in the last four years have been an education for us. We have learnt the hard way that in comparison to Asia’s best, we need to improve. More than the technique, we need to match the size, power and athleticism of the higher-ranked teams,” says Toal. He adds: “We concentrate on the four areas: physical fitness, technical ability, tactical awareness and mental strength. Unless you possess them, you cannot be successful in International football.”

If results are any indication, India’s young footballers seem to be on the right track. The AIFF’s venture to raise an under-21 team and insert them in the quasi-professional I-League is a laudable decision. Christened the Indian Arrows, the team is primarily comprised of under-19 boys who are normally overlooked by the top clubs, who seek instant success by hiring foreigners mainly from Africa and Latin America. Clubs don’t care about the future of Indian football as long as their “goals” are fulfilled.

Says Toal: “I don’t want to embarrass the I-League clubs, but how many of them have academies or age-group teams. They are gunning for immediate glory but to sustain it in the long term you have to invest in youth. But most clubs here are yet to imbibe that culture.”

The under-16 and under-19 teams remain India’s best bet for the future. The success of the under-16 boys should spur the 19s when they play the AFC youth championship in October-November. India have been drawn in a tough group C along with Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

The preparation has been good. India U-19 finished fourth among eight teams in the Weifang Cup, a premier age-group tournament played in Shandong, China, in August. The experience against Portuguese team FC Benfica, Aussie side FC Adelaide (it had five U-19 World Cuppers) and hosts FC Shandong (it had eight Chinese national players) should stand the Indians in good stead.

Developing football culture in India is a tough job. “Our lack of infrastructure is a hindrance for any long-term development. The top 10 Asian countries had set their infrastructure right 40 years ago. We need to bridge that gap as early as possible if we wish to fulfil any of our long-term goals,” says Toal.

Patience, planning and honest governance will remain the key to progress. There is fresh blood in Indian soccer. There are fresh legs that are willing to run that extra yard. In a system dictated by myopic club culture, will the colts take India to new heights in world football? At least for now, the signs are encouraging!

(The author is the Head of Content, Digital Media, ESPN-STAR Sports)

by soumitra bose