Indian Football team never experienced a devastating independence day like the way it did on 15th August, 1971.
As everyone embraced the 25th Independence Day, Indian Football team saw the most catastrophic ending of their match in Kuala Lumpur. In the Merdeka tournament on 15th August, India suffered a terrible blow from Burma ( now Myanmar ). India managed to propel only one goal while Myanmar thrived with 9 goals.
Till now this is the most humiliating defeat from an Asian team. This loss ended the careers of Syeed Nayeemuddin & Chandreshwar Prasad, the latter being the captain of the team. But it is not about the cataclysmic ending but a foreboding victory that has been forgotten over the ages. India backfired and lifted the Pesta Sukan trophy in Singapore.
East Bengal’s Swapan Sengupta played a major role for this historic conquest of the team that won a bronze medal in the Asian Games in the previous year and finished third in the Merdeka tournament. They returned home with joint winners trophy after a draw with Vietnam which had no goals. It was India’s last international trophy in 20th century.
1950 was the golden era for this team as they managed to qualify FIFA World Cup which was planned to be held in Brazil, but India withdrew citing several reasons like travel costs and valuing Olympics. India, then coached by Hyderabad City Police head coach Syed Abdul Rahim, was one of the intricately carved out team in Asia.
After that India qualified in 2002 FIFA World Cup 1st round qualifiers. The starting was illuminated but it fade away when they lost to Bangladesh 2-1. India secured Nehru cup twice the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 which permitted India to participate in their first AFC Asian Cup for 27 year. It has been a long journey for the
Indian team and they are destined to journey more. After all it is India we are talking about.