The Indian team has kept up their expectations. They have finally kissed their first Nehru cup ever. They have beaten the 121st ranked team in the world.
Keep it up INDIA!
Now in this article, you will find how our major newspapers celebrated our victory.
The Times of India
It was very paining not to see any news regarding Nehru cup win in the first page. Here is the excerpt from the news printed in TOI.In the end, it was the attitude which made the difference.
You seldom come across an Indian football team playing with such vigour against a higher-ranked team in the final of an international event.
If India turned the tables on their fancied opponents, and won the ONGC Nehru Cup final by a solitary goal, it was all possible because of their new-found aggro.
Bolstered by a vociferous crowd which also included hockey icon Dhanraj Pillay, and cricket star Virender Sehwag, the ‘Blues’ exemplfied a confidence hardly seen in the Indian team.
In earlier times, against the big-bodied Syrians, the Indians would have been a little submissive.
But after a year with Bob Houghton, their English coach, Bhaichung Bhutia and his band of boys seem to have learned the way a team should play in an international final: wearing your attitude on your sleeve.
In a nutshell, if Syria were bold and aggressive, India were bolder.
The good thing about this team was that they never played defensive.
Hence, Chettri’s got two clear chances in the first quarter itself which set the tone as the Syrians felt the heat.
If Chettri, Delhi’s own, missed those early sitters, he made amends by helping India take lead minutes before the break.
Chettri’s quick cross from the left was met with an unsuccessful back-volley attempt by Bhutia. However, the rebound was picked up by NP Pradeep who slammed it home in a flash to sent the capacity crowd into ecstasy.
The goal rattled the Syrians so much that they resorted to reckless fouls. And the West Asians paid for that in the final moments of the first half when Wael Ayan was given the marching orders after he deliberately kicked Surkumar Singh in the groin. With Syria reduced to 10 men, India became even more dominant.
With Syria’s key man in the middle, Maher Al Sayed being bottled by Surkumar and Steven Dias, the winners had already scored some brownie points in the midfield.
Though Sayed tried hard to evade his markers, the Syrian skipper’s good work came to a nought, thanks to goalkeeper Subroto Paul who revelled under the bar with some fantastic saves.
After the match, it was gratifying to see Bhutia and Co. running a lap of honour with the tricolour in hand as the floodlit stadium gave them a standing ovation.
Most of the crowd were seeing this for the first time, an Indian football team winning at international event. The memory will linger.
One hopes, the good work continues.
The Hindu
A packed house cheered India to a rare international football title here on Wednesday night with the home team taming Syria by a lone first-half goal in the ONGC Nehru Cup tournament.
Baichung Bhutia did not score, but paved the way for a priceless strike by N. P. Pradeep in the 44th minute. It should, however, be recorded that India owed the triumph immensely to an impeccable performance under the bar by Subrata Paul. His anticipation in cutting off Syria’s aerial forays was the most striking feature of the contest.
Well matched
The Indians matched the Syrians in every aspect of the game — speed, control, aggression and tactics. Pace was furious but the match suffered in quality once the Syrians adopted needless rough tactics, especially to unsettle Bhutia and Sunil Chettri.
The ploy did not work for long and Syria paid dearly for its misadventures in the first half. It first conceded a goal and then lost a key player to a lethal lapse in concentration.
Even as tempers rose, the game threatened to go out of control. Referee Sikhrakar Surendra opted to ignore some fouls and rapidly the game de-generated with the Syrian players going for the man and not the ball.
Despite the hard work by striker Maher Al Sayed and some outstanding defending by Ali Dyeb, Syria went down to an opposition that played as a team.
The visiting side played the second half with ten men after Wael Ayan felled Surkumar Singh in a moment of madness. It could have been worse had he gone ahead with his act of hurling the soft drink bottle at Bhutia.
The Syrians allowed the occasion to rattle their composure and the team produced a rare sight of their own players exchanging words among themselves. The Indian defence was superbly marshalled by ‘man of the match’ Mahesh Gawli with unflappable support from N. S. Manju and Gouramangi Singh. The Syrians were constantly harassed by Surkumar Singh too and it made the task easy for the midfield where N. P. Pradeep and Climax Lawrence could afford to frequently assist the strikers, leaving Ajayan Nair and Stevan Dias to plug the loopholes, if any.
The credit of coming close to scoring first went to India in the tenth minute but Chettri shot out in front of an open goal. India did well to attack relentlessly even though Syria did manage some dangerous counter-attacks. It, however, failed to get past the impregnable Paul.
The goal by Pradeep was just the tonic Indian football needed. Chettri initiated the move, found Bhutia, who could not finish the job but an overlapping Pradeep slotted the loose ball in with a flourish that epitomized the team’s regal march to the title.
Syria, ranked 39 places above India,had one last chance in injury time but Jenyat shot wide. India should have been up by another goal but Dias made a hash of a spectacular square pass by Bhutia. In the end, the misses did not count.
The win fetched India $40,000, the entire money to be distributed among the players. Oil and Natural Gas Commission contributed a similar amount.
Pat for Indians
Loka Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday congratulated the team. Mr. Chatterjee spoke to Bhutia and conveyed his congratulations.
This concludes this article. The articles copyright lies with the respective newspapers. This has been just shared here.Times of India Link Page -20
The Hindu Link
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