India making a mark in the world of soccer may yet remain a distant dream, but the Under-16 boys’ feat of qualifying for the AFC Cup finals shows a glimmer of hope. Whether they can sustain it beyond the age group stage, though, remains the million-dollar question. Experts and enthusiasts alike feel that a lot needs to be done to give the boys the impetus needed to make men out of them.

The skill they have, also the technical expertise necessary at that level. And as long as they are taking on boys their ‘own size’, all is okay. Victories do come, and not so sporadically as one may be tuned to believe, but things change with age. As they say, size does matter.

Just a case in point to put things in perspective—the under-16 team beat Lebanon in the AFC qualifiers convincingly. But their under-19 counterparts failed, as did the senior team in the World Cup qualifiers. All this within a span of a few weeks.

Could a conclusion be drawn from here that with age, Indian footballers become less effective? Maybe not. But the fact is that as they grow older, they find it more and more difficult to cope with the obvious difference in height and body mass. Football being a body contact sport makes matters all the more difficult.

Says P K Banerjee who had been instrumental in setting up the Tata Football Academy—an institute that almost pioneered scientific training for juniors in the country—of the under-16 boys: “I am very hopeful for these kids. They have done the country proud. But a lot needs to be done to help them maintain this.”

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