GOLDEN ERA OF INDIAN FOOTBALL

INDIA AGAINST FRANCE 1948

Indian football team current Fifa ranking is 166th. After seeing the current Indian football ranking it's hard to believe that was Indian football golden era. But the period of 1951 to 1962 was considered to be a golden era of Indian football. This post is about the Golden era of Indian football that has been lost in today's Indian football.

INDIAN TEAM 1956 OLYMPICS

The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim India became the best team in Asia. The Indian team started the 1950s with victory in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted. India beat both Indonesia and Afghanistan 3–0 to reach the final where they beat Iran 1–0.

INDIAN TEAM 1960 OLYMPICS

In 1952, India continued their form by winning the Colombo Quadrangular Cup held in Sri Lanka. Later that year they went on to participate in the 1952 Olympics, but lost 10–1 to Yugoslavia in the Preliminary Round.

INDIA AT 1956 OLYMPICS

Neville D'Souza

 India also won three further editions of the Quadrangular Cup, which were held in Burma, Calcutta and Dhaka in 1953, 1954 and 1955 respectively. India then went on to finish second in the 1954 Asian Games held in Manila.

At the 1956 Olympics they finished fourth, which is regarded as one of finest achievements in Indian football. India first met hosts Australia, winning 4–2 with Neville D'Souza becoming the first Asian to score a hatrick in the Olympics and also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals. They lost 4–1 to Yugoslavia, and lost the third place play-off match 3–0 to Bulgaria.

INDIAN TEAM FOR JAKARTA ASIAN GAMES

India participated in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan where they finished fourth, and the Merdeka Cup 1959 in Malaysia finishing second. The side started off 1960 with Asian Cup qualifiers in which they failed to qualify.
India went to the Asian Games in Jakarta and won the gold medal, defeating a South Korea side they had lost to in the opening phase. In PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Peter Thangaraj and Jarnail Singh, India had some of Asia's finest players of that era and two years later finished second in the 1964 Asian Cup which was held in round-robin format.
India played in the Merdeka Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966 where they finished 2nd, 3rd and 3rd respectively.

After having a good past in football, should think for a better future,& for that should make our present good. It's our duty to promote football. We should at least participate in every football tournaments & encourage youngsters to play football. Our aim is to participate in Worldcup-2022 and we should train players from grass root level.

(SOURCE-WIKIPEDIA)