New Delhi, Oct 29
: They worked long and hard for that dream for over a year and were within four minutes of realising it. But it wasn't meant to be for the spirited India junior men's football team, whose 2-3 defeat to Thailand ended their U17 Asian Cup and World Cup dreams.
Crestfallen, shattered, broken. You could run out of synonyms to describe the scenes in the Indian dugout after the full-time whistle. Some sobbed inconsolably, some had heads buried in their hands, and some were still trying to process what had just hit them. And why wouldn't they be? For 86 minutes of the match, India had the ticket to Saudi Arabia in their bag. Ultimately, one moment of quality from Thailand snatched it away from them.
Ishfaq Ahmed's boys always played with a proactive mindset and for all three points. They had been steamrolling opponents left, right, and centre. Their tally of 28 goals in nine matches this year says it all. They have beaten Indonesia at their home. Against Thailand, they led twice in an environment they had never played football in before -- a passionate opposition crowd, jeers, whistles, and non-stop drumming.
But none of that prevented Ngamgouhou Mate from coolly slotting his penalty or Vishal Yadav from thumping home a stupendous volley from Ninghthoukhongjam Rishi Singh's perfect cross.
There was still a glimmer of hope after the game. Had there been some results from other groups, which were yet to finish, India's ticket could still have been punched. However, after Australia and Indonesia played out a goalless draw in Kuwait, India were officially knocked out.
Later in the night, Hong Kong's surprising win over Syria meant that Iran qualified, pushing India down to seventh place in the rankings for the best second-placed teams. Only the top five qualified.
Ahmed was nothing but proud of his boys and shouldered the blame for the failure upon himself. "I'm really disappointed with the result, but not with the boys," he said. "They gave everything. They deserved more. They competed well against the hosts, they were leading twice. They were fitter than them. One lapse of concentration and we conceded in the end.
"I take the blame. We couldn't improve where we needed to. Football is cruel. If you don't take your chances, the opponents will punish you. We can't score twice and then concede three against a team like Thailand. But I'm super proud of the boys. Playing like this with that sort of a crowd behind the home team. They are just 16," he said.
The coach had a long chat with the 23 young men, who had experienced the first big setback of their careers, in the dressing room and the team hotel afterwards. Emotions were surely running high at the moment, but the message was plain and simple. Learn from the heartbreaks and pick yourselves up because that's what makes great players.
"I spoke to all of them one by one. I told them that this isn't the last heartbreak you'll suffer in football. And it won't stay forever. You will have happy moments also. You will win matches, win trophies, and be successful. But you have to learn from the mistakes," he said.
"I want to thank the federation for giving me this opportunity with this talented bunch of players. I hope they all continue the good work in their respective clubs and they keep playing more and more matches. That's the only way forward for these boys. The more they play, the better they will become. I think from this batch, most of them will progress to the under-20s, and I hope that in a few years, we will have a good, strong U20 team," he added.
The U17 journey of the Blue Colts ends for now. However difficult a pill that may be to swallow, they will need to pick themselves up. The ending may have been bitter but they can always take heart from the many great moments that were part of the journey. The good thing is they are so young that they've still got a lot of time to develop. They can only get better from here on.