Kolkata: Expectations will be high, when Indian Arrows comprising of some of the country’a best U-17 players that played in the U-17 World Cup and top U-19 players, kick off their Hero I-League campaign agaisnt Chennai City, at the Goa Medical College Athletic stadium on Wednesday. “It will be very tough, but it will be worth it,” feels Jeakson Singh, India’s first and only goal scorer in a FIFA World Cup. It will be a difficult task at hand when they face a team that consists of players far more ahead in age and experience in the league. Not a win, draw will be a sufficient result for them given the stature of the league says U-17 defender Sanjeev Stalin.
“We might not be able to win each and every match but even if we hold a Hero I-league club to a draw, it will be a big morale booster for us.I want to thank the All India Football Federation for giving us a chance to play in the Hero I-League, it means a lot to us,” opined Stalin ahead of the match.
Experience for a better future and for the betterment of Indian football has been a major reason for the AIFF fielding a developmental team of youngstar’s and coach Luis Norton De Matos who was India’s coach during the U-17 World Cup termed ‘experience’ as the most important lesson the league will impart to his boys.
“We are very excited with this possibility to play in the I-League. We know we are looking for such possibilities. These players are going to get more match experience. This is a starting point,” said the Portuguese at the pre-match conference.
Such a move by the AIFF is however not new to Indian football. One such experiment between the 2010-2013 priod produced players such as Jeje Lalpekhlua, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Holicharan Nazary among others and proud to be a part of the football body’s developmental plan, Edmund Lalrindika who scored in the 3-0 win over Turkmenistan in the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers said, “Every footballer wants to play in the domestic league as a professional player and playing in the Hero I-League will help us in becoming mature footballers as well as human beings.”
Their opponents on Wednesday Chennai City have a similar plan in place, but the only difference is while AIFF strives for the betterment of Indian football, the club from Tamil Nadu wants to bring up more players from the state, to showcase their talent.
“We are concentrating more on Tamil Nadu players. That is why we have taken players from rural areas. We signed more players from the Chennai league. This year we had a very good pre-season and I have confidence in my players,” said V Soundararajan had coach of the Chennai City, who along with gaffer Matos will also be making his debut in the league.
It may be their only second season in the top most division of Indian football but captain Michael Soosairaj is optimistic of his team’s good results. “Actually we don’t underestimate anyone and everybody knows how they performed in the WC. We hope to be the better team,” concluded the skipper.