Indian football has been not the best of show. They have dropped down the rankings in the last couple of years. The nation after winning the SAFF Championship they have not performed well in the major tournaments and exiting out of the group stages as well. The team’s star striker and captain Sunil Chhetri announced his retirement and since then the team has also struggled to find goals.
Amidst all the chaos and downfall there is a slim light as three Indian footballers and two others will practice at Old Trafford in Manchester after winning the fourth edition of United We Play. It was a grassroots football program. The event brought over 15,000 aspiring Indian footballers from 18 locations, culminating in a big finale in Chandigarh featuring Manchester United veteran and all-time great Gary Neville.
PC Lalchhuanawma (Mizoram), Shreejal Kisku (Bhubaneswar), and Mohd Ayan (Lucknow) were chosen alongside Nepal’s Bhakta Bahadur Pariyar and Chanason Chaiyatham from Bangkok. These players will have the opportunity to visit Old Trafford and take part in events such as a match-day experience, a training session with Manchester United Soccer School coaches, and legend interactions. This is a huge opportunity for the footballers to get a knock and flavour of English and European football.
Indian football will not develop
Is this a huge boost for Indian football? Yes, it is a huge boost for the footballers and the nation as well. Previously many footballers have gone out and shown their talents in the big stages of European football. With the likes of Sunil Chhetri, Baichung Bhutia, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, and many more. Indian football especially, the Kolkata Football they used to call Brazil with so many talents.
In the Asian stages, India has won two medals one gold and bronze. Since then they have failed to win any kind of medals in the major Asian tournament or the Olympics, as well. Despite keeping up the fight the infrastructure and grassroots development have been poor in Indian football which has been a key to the failure of the nation as a whole.
