HT Kick Off: Merdeka musings

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Friday, 06 Oct 2023

By Dhiman Sarkar

Merdeka musings

Sunil Chhetri has never played in the Merdeka Cup (Source: AIFF)

Soon after leading India for the second time in the Asian Games and months before what should be his third Asian Cup finals, Sunil Chhetri, somewhat unusually, awaits a first. That is because even his international career does not stretch as far back as 2001 when India last played the Merdeka Tournament. They will again this time because All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey persuaded his counterpart at Football Association of Malaysia in September 2022 to restart the invitation tournament and let India play.

This will be India’s 18th appearance, the most by its senior men’s team in any competition, Nehru Cup included, said football statistician Gautam Roy. India have won 34 of their 90 games with 18 draws, he said. The Merdeka, Asia’s oldest invitation tournament, was started in 1957 to commemorate Malaysia’s independence day and enjoyed a position of eminence before the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers grew in importance. Led once each by SA Latif and Chuni Goswami, India have finished second best twice, in 1959 and 1964, have been third three times (1965, 1966 and 1970) and played in the semi-finals in 1981 and 1986.

India captain Shabbir Ali leading the team in the Merdeka Tournament in 1981. (Source: Shabbir Ali.)

“From 1959 to 1976, India were regulars in the tournament and it would get wide coverage in the print media,” said Roy, a septuagenarian. “Parimal Dey being ignored in 1967 and Santo Mitra being kept on the bench for all the games in 1968 caused a fair bit of stir.” Roy attributed both to animosity between officials at the federation and those at East Bengal.

“The stadium was in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and the attendance would be good,” said Shabbir Ali, the former India forward who was captain in 1981 with PK Banerjee and GM Basha, the duo in charge of the 1970 Asian Games bronze medal winning campaign, managing the team. AIFF president Khalifa Ziauddin was on good terms with top Malaysia football official and former Asian Football Confederation president Tunku Abdul Rahman and so it turned out to be one of the most important tournaments for the India team, said Ali.

India lost 0-2 to a Sao Paolo XI in the semi-final in 1981. “We hadn’t done well for some time in Merdeka so making the semi-finals after some 11 years was important,” said Ali.

In 1986, the last time India went deep in the tournament, Banerjee was again in charge of a campaign that ended in the penultimate round with a 0-1 defeat to a selection from Czechoslovakia. Guess who won that year? Bangladesh beating the Czechs 3-0.

A newspaper clipping which Shabbir Ali shared with KickOff.

Ali is also one of the five Indians who notched up hattricks in Merdeka. That was in 1976 against Indonesia. “Jarnail da took me off in the second half,” Ali said, referring to legendary India and Mohun Bagan defender Jarnail Singh, also captain in Merdeka in 1966, who was coach for that tournament. “I think I had completed my hattrick between the seventh and the 35th minutes...” The Hyderabadi didn’t complete the sentence leaving you wondering whether he felt he could have got more from that game.

“But our performance was bad overall,” said Ali. India leaked 27 goals that year, the most they ever have in the competition.

Krishanu Dey was the last Indian to get a hattrick, against Thailand in 1986. Marto Gracias was the first, against Hong Kong in 1967 with Subhas Bhowmick (v Philippines in 1971) and Magan Singh (Thailand, 1974) completing the list. With 13 goals, Magan Singh is also India’s highest scorer in Merdeka, according to Roy. Ashoke Chatterjee is second with nine and Inder Singh, who was once asked whether he would opt for Malaysian citizenship, third with eight.

One year after they finished third under the captaincy of Syed Nayeemuddin – the famous defender, who also had a stellar coaching career, played 37 games in this competition, the most by an Indian – and months after an Asian Games bronze, India lost 1-9 to Burma (now Myanmar). It was their worst showing in Merdeka.

India stopped being invited after football teams were not sent to the 1990 and 1994 Asian Games. They were called again after beating UAE in a World Cup qualifier in 2001, said Roy. Led by Jo Paul Ancheri, the team, which had a number of players from the side that stunned UAE through Jules Alberto’s goal in Bengaluru, lost all three games in the group stage. In that squad was Mahesh Gawali, now India’s assistant-coach. “We are a better team now,” said Gawali at a media interaction organised by AIFF.

With players busy in ISL and without too many training sessions, head coach Igor Stimac’s pet peeve, India will line up against Malaysia on October 13 and against either Palestine or Tajikistan four days later. “India have never won this. Hopefully, we will this time. I am looking forward to an exciting game against Malaysia where the boys leave everything on the pitch,” said Stimac, who has been given an extension till 2026 with provision to stay till 2028. The point that he should be given an extension was made in this newsletter on July 7 this year.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

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Luis Diaz’s “disallowed goal” (Source: BeIN Sport)

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India beat Pakistan 3-0 (Source: AIFF)

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HT Kick Off: Merdeka musings

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