In one of the greatest nights for Indian football in a long time, a solitary goal from N P Pradeep against Syria clinched India's first title victory in the ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Bob Houghton's men accomplished the remarkable feat through a 43rd-minute strike against tournament favourites Syria, which should prove to be a new beginning for Indian football.
Before the tournament, there were two teams ranked higher than India on the FIFA charts, but the team was never short of confidence and skipper Baichung Bhutia had declared that "there was a very realistic chance of India winning the title."
However, not many gave the hosts much of a chance against the pedigree of the West Asians and the superior physique of the men from Kyrgyzstan. But they wanted the trophy the most.
India received the winners' prize of USD 40,000 while the Syrians had to settle for half that amount. There was further windfall for the Indians as ONGC announced a 100 per cent bonus for them. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit chipped in with Rs five lakh while All India Football Federation announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh.
The Indians reserved their best performance for the final and prevailed in a contest that often reached boiling point.
The match featured several yellow cards and the Syrians had to play the entire second half with 10 men.
There was no space left inside the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium with the 16,000 Indian supporters and a handful of Syrians making for a spectacular setting. Apart from the odd incident of bottle-throwing, there was no unsavoury scenes.
India edged the first half and kept the dangerous Syrian combination of Maher Al Sayed and the tournament's topscorer Zyad Chaabo largely at bay.
India came close to scoring on quite a few occasions but had to wait till the 43rd minute to go ahead.
Sunil Chhetri drifted towards the left flank and floated a cross for Bhutia who headed it down for an onrushing Pradeep to fire home a bullet shot past Syrian custodian Mowssab Blahowss.
The goal clearly rattled the visitors who resorted to reckless fouls and the match witnessed some very heated moments.
The game reach a flashpoint when Wael Ayan kicked Surkumar Singh in the groin in the first half injury time and all hell broke loose.
The players clashed with each other and even Syrian coach Fajer Ibraahim and other members of the coaching staff entered the field to pacify their men.
When the dust settled, Ayan was sent off, meaning India had an advantage on the scoreboard as well as in personnel.
The Indian defence was a revelation with man of the match Mahesh Gawli and the rookie Gourmangi Singh not giving any space to the rival attackers. It never seemed that the team was missing the experience of Deepak Mondal in the back four.
Clifford Miranda, Ajayan Nair, Pradeep and Steven Dias were supreme in the midfield giving no joy to their opponents.
Goalkeeper Subrato Paul was like a man possessed under the bar and was courage personified as he thwarted every Syrian attack.
Only Chhetri seemed a bit off-colour.
The Syrians clearly missed the injured Mohammad Alzeno, who had to sit out with a shoulder injury.
India could have scored at least two more but for uncharacteristic misses from Steven Dias and Bhutia. In the ninth minute, good interplay between Bhutia and N S Manju provided a golden chance for the onrushing Dias to hit it over an empty goal.
In the second half, the captain missed a sitter from a Dias cross.
But those misses did not prove costly and the final whistle, after nearly six minutes of time added on, sparked jubilant scenes on the pitch and in the stands.
Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chaterjee later called up Bhutia to congratulate the team for the triumph.
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