India’s AFC Challenge Cup’08 Triumph

Source : http://www.goal.com/en-india/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=817519

By : Subhankar Mondal

India defeated Tajikistan 4-1 on Wednesday evening to win the AFC Challenge Cup’08. Goal.com’s Subhankar Mondal now reflects on this huge triumph for the ‘Men in Blue’…..

A few days before the start of the AFC Challenge Cup’08 during a regional TV talk show discussing India’s chances at the competition, a football pundit raved about India reaching the semi-final at least. Hearing this, a football enthusiast said to yours truly,”India in the semi-finals!? No chance!” Undeniably there must have been several football followers in India who fostered a similar feeling of skepticism. After all, although Indian football has progressed much, a good fraction of the Indian population somehow still clings onto the primitive idea that India in football is still prostrated. But as the cliché has it, let football do the talking. And so it did and did in a ridiculously earth shattering fashion on Wednesday evening at Dr. Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi in the AFC Challenge Cup’08 final.

The Final The final in Delhi was of course a different cake altogether. While at Hyderabad players had quietly moaned the lack of spectators and the Gachibowli or Lal Bahadur Shastri pitches were hardly good enough for second tier league football matches, at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi the ground conditions were conducive for a good football match and the people flocked to the final in droves, soaked in patriotism and waving the Indian flag. Which sparked the technically gifted Indian players to gel and come out of their shell. The hero of the final, Sunil Chhetri, scored three scintillating goals while Bhaichung Bhutia, soaked in blood Terry Butcher-style, scored a stupendous goal with his left foot. India played a passing game, constructed on a quick attack and an urgency to seize every possible opportunity to strike at the Tajikistan goal. The entire team played terribly well on Wednesday. Subrata Pal was a giant between the sticks and made many a match-winning save; Surkumar Singh dominated the wing; Climax Lawrence controlled the midfield and the rest aptly complimented. India have been saddled with a host of injuries for the AFC Challenge Cup’08 with regular first choice players such as Deepak Mandal and N Pradeep struggling to get fit for the matches. But this time the other players slotted in and the result was pinned up on the wall for everyone to observe. New Era For Indian Football? India celebrates Independence Day on August 15. But for the legions of Indian football lovers, the celebrations have arrived two days earlier. It came at a stadium named after the chief architect of the Indian Constitution and at a time when Indian football is going through one of its golden periods in history. This triumph now secures India a berth in the 2011 Asian Games, a competition where India shall confront the heavyweights of Asian football. Can the AFC Challenge Cup’08 conquest be the key the unlocks the door for India to march onto the world stage? The Indian football lovers shall certainly be hoping so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaichung_Bhutia

Baichung Bhutia (born December 15, 1976 in Tinkitam, Sikkim, India) is an Indian football player. He is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is currently the captain of Indian team and plays for Mohun Bagan Club.

Football career
He started his education is St. Xaviers School, Pakyong, East Sikkim and eventually won a SAI Scholarship to attend the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. He went on to play for several school and local clubs in his home state of Sikkim. A stellar performance at the 1992 Subroto Cup brought him to the notice of the football establishment.
In 1993, at the age of sixteen, he left school to join the professional East Bengal Club in Calcutta. In 1995, he moved to JCT Mills, Phagwara, which went on to win the India National Football League that year. Bhutia was the top scorer in the league, and was chosen to play in the Nehru Cup. He was named "1996 Indian Player of the Year" and has won numerous other awards since then.
In 1997 he returned to East Bengal, and became team captain in the 1998-99 season. Baichung Bhutia has the unique distinction of scoring the only hatrick in the Derby Clashes between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, when he registered the same in East Bengal's 4-1 triumph in 1997 Federation Cup Semi Final. In 1999 he travelled overseas to play for Bury F.C. after unsuccessful trials with both Fulham F.C. [1]and Aston Villa F.C. [2]with the move improving his conditioning and strategy. In 2002 he returned to India and played for the Mohun Bagan AC for a year before returning again to the East Bengal Club, helping them to win the Asean Cup (Association of South East Asian Nations) Club Championship. He signed up to play for Perak, the Malaysian championship club, from August to October 2003 and returning to East Bengal for the regular season. He continued to play for East Bengal till the end of 2005-2006 season. In 2006, he joined Mohun Bagan AC and has remained with them since then. He has recently renewed his contract for a further two years from 2008 to 2010 with the Mohun Bagan. He played in the Goal 4 Africa match held in the Allianz Arena, Munich on 12th July 2008 for the Edu team led by Clarence Seedorf and scored twice.[3]He scored twice in the AFC Challenge Cup against Turkmenistan.

Personal life
Bhutia comes from a Buddhist Bhutia background, and is by conviction an atheist.[4] He married his longtime girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis on December 27, 2004 in his native village of Tinkitam in South Sikkim.[5]
He signed an endorsement deal with Adidas India Marketing Pvt. Ltd in November 2003. Currently he is endorsing Nike India. He has also appeared in the advertisvement by Nike, Highlighting The Chance to visit the Nou Camp stadium In Barcelona.
The Sikkimese government has built a stadium, the Baichung Stadium in Namchi, the district headquarters, in honor of Baichung. He is one of the most popular figures in the state and is considered as a role model to many Sikkimese as well to people from other states of India.
In 2008, Bhutia was solicited to run with the Olympic torch in India, but he refused to carry the torch to show support for the Tibetan independence movement. "I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. I'm against violence but I thought I should stand by the Tibetan people in their fight," Bhutia said. [6] He was the first sportsman to refuse carrying the Olympic torch. His actions have won him praise from the Tibetan community and its supporters in India [7].

source : wikipedia

Sunil Chetri (born August 3, 1984 in Delhi, India) is an Indian professional football player. He plays in the Forward position and is known for his high work rate, ball control and shooting. Chetri has played for Mohun Bagan, JCT FC. He was selected the AIFF Player of the Year 2007 for his excellent performances for his club and country.He is said to be one of the best young asian players
Contents[hide]
1 Club career
2 International career
2.1 International goals
3 External links
//

[edit] Club career
He has played for 2 major clubs in India Mohun Bagan and JCT FC and has impressed in both his stints. He is know for his ball control, shooting and high work rate and is touted as the next Baichung Bhutia. His most notable performance was against Sao Paulo FC for JCT FC in the Super Soccer series in 2007. At the end of the 11th NFL, Chetri was awarded the league's best player award as well as the league best forward. He scored a total of 12 goals in the 11th NFL. For the current season, he has signed with East Bengal Club.

[edit] International career
He has represented his national team India a number of times.One of his best performances was perhaps against Cambodia in August 2007, in which he scored 2 excellent goals.He was selected the Indian player of 2007 and found his way in NDTV's list of india's biggest sporting moments of 2007 at number 3. His hattrick in the final of AFC Challenge Cup against Tajikstan, the first ever by an Indian in an international arena final, has finally accomplished him as one of the three top strikers of Indian Football in the last two decades along with Bhaichung Bhutia and I.M.Vijayan. Sunil Chetri has come of age.

[edit] International goals
#
Date
Venue
Opponent
Score
Result
Competition
1
12 June 2005
Ayub Stadium, Quetta,Pakistan
Pakistan
1–0
1–1
Friendly
2
17 August 2007
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Cambodia
4–0
6–0
Nehru Cup
3
17 August 2007
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Cambodia
5–0
6–0
Nehru Cup
4
23 August 2007
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Syria
1–0
2–3
Nehru Cup
5
26 August 2007
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Kyrgyzstan
2–0
3–0
Nehru Cup
6
8 October 2007
Saida International Stadium, Saida, Lebanon
Lebanon
1–0
1–4
WCQ
7
30 October 2007
Fatorda Stadium, Goa, India
Lebanon
1–0
2–2
WCQ
8
24 May 2008
Fatorda Stadium, Goa, India
Chinese Taipei
2–0
3–0
Friendly
9
24 May 2008
Fatorda Stadium, Goa, India
Chinese Taipei
3–0
3–0
Friendly
10
3 June 2008
Rasmee Dhandu Stadium, Malé, Maldives
Nepal
3–0
4–0
SAFF Cup
11
11 June 2008
Rasmee Dhandu Stadium, Malé, Maldives
Bhutan
1–1
2–1
SAFF Cup
12
7 August 2008
Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad, India
Myanmar
1–0
1–0
AFC Challenge Cup
13
13 August 2008
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Tajikistan
1–0
4–1
AFC Challenge Cup
14
13 August 2008
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Tajikistan
3–0
4–1
AFC Challenge Cup
15
13 August 2008
Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi, India
Tajikistan
4–1
4–1
AFC Challenge Cup