India Wins the "ONGC Nehru Cup 2007"...

A packed house cheered India to a rare international football title here on Wednesday,29th August, night with the home team taming Syria by a lone first-half goal in the ONGC Nehru Cup tournament.

Baichung Bhutia did not score, but paved the way for a priceless strike by N. P. Pradeep in the 44th minute. It should, however, be recorded that India owed the triumph immensely to an impeccable performance under the bar by Subrata Paul. His anticipation in cutting off Syria’s aerial forays was the most striking feature of the contest.

The Indians matched the Syrians in every aspect of the game — speed, control, aggression and tactics. Pace was furious but the match suffered in quality once the Syrians adopted needless rough tactics, especially to unsettle Bhutia and Sunil Chettri.

The goal by Pradeep was just the tonic Indian football needed. Chettri initiated the move, found Bhutia, who could not finish the job but an overlapping Pradeep slotted the loose ball in with a flourish that epitomized the team’s regal march to the title.

Syria, ranked 39 places above India,had one last chance in injury time but Jenyat shot wide. India should have been up by another goal but Dias made a hash of a spectacular square pass by Bhutia. In the end, the misses did not count.


Before the tournament, there were two teams ranked higher than India on the FIFA charts, but the team was never short of confidence and skipper Bhaichung Bhutia had declared that "there was a very realistic chance of India winning the title."

However, not many gave the hosts much of a chance against the pedigree of the West Asians and the superior physique of the men from Kyrgyzstan. But they wanted the trophy the most.

India received the winners` prize of USD 40,000 while the Syrians had to settle for half that amount.

There was further windfall for the Indians as ONGC announced a 100 per cent bonus for them. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit chipped in with Rs five lakh while All India Football Federation announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh.

The Indians reserved their best performance for the final and prevailed in a contest that often reached boiling point. The match featured several yellow cards and the Syrians had to play the entire second half with 10 men.

The Indians reserved their best performance for the final and prevailed in a contest that often reached boiling point. The match featured several yellow cards and the Syrians had to play the entire second half with 10 men.

There was no space left inside the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium with the 16,000 Indian supporters and a handful of Syrians making for a spectacular setting. Apart from the odd incident of bottle-throwing, there was no unsavoury scenes.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somanth Chaterjee later called up Bhutia to congratulate the team for the triumph. President Pratibha Patil also congratulated the Indian team for its outstanding performance.

Compiled By:
Saurav Chakraboty

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