Fw: India beat Cameroon to win third successive Nehru Cup

 

 

From: DCW Behala

Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 3:32 PM

To: dcw-behala@googlegroups.com

Subject: India beat Cameroon to win third successive Nehru Cup

 

Indian Football Team showed nerves of steel to overcome Cameroon 5-4 via penalty shootout and retain the Nehru Cup football tournament for three times in a row. Let's cheers and wish the team will excel once again like the Golden Period (1951-1962).

 

The match went into tie-breaker after the two teams were locked 2-2 at the end of 120 minutes of play at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Gouramangi Singh (19^th Min) and Sunil Chhetri (77^th Min) scored for India in the regulation time, while Makkon Thierry (29^th Min) and Kingue Mpondo (54^th Min) found the net for Cameroon.

 

In the tiebreaker, Robin Singh, skipper Chhetri, Denzil Franco and Mehtab Hosain struck to ensure that India managed a clean slate. Taking the final shot, Makkon hit the post to leave Cameroon shattered, and the Indians jubilant. Ashu C Tambe, Ousmalia, Bebey Kingue Paul and Mpondo scored for the visitors in the shootout.

 

 

The Nehru Cup (more formally known as the ONGC Nehru Cup) is an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After the trophy was won by Iraq in 1997, it was reinstated only in 2007. Some statistics about Winner and Runner-up teams in Nehru Cups till date:

 

Year	Host	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Teams	India
1982	Kolkata	Uruguay	2 – 0	China	6 nos.	5th
1983	Cochin	Hungary Olympic	2 – 1	China	4 nos.	4th
1984	Kolkata	Poland	1 - 0	China	6 nos.	6th
1985	Cochin	Soviet Union	2 - 1	Yugoslavia	4 nos.	4th
1986	Thiruvananthapuram	Soviet Union XI	1 - 0	China	6 nos.	6th
1987	Calicut	Soviet Union XI	2 - 0	Bulgaria Olympic	4 nos.	3rd
1988	Siliguri	Soviet Union Olympic	2 - 0	Poland Olympic	6 nos.	6th
1989	Margao	Hungary XI	2 – 1	Soviet Union XI	6 nos.	4th
1991	Thiruvananthapuram	Romania B	3 – 1	Hungary	6 nos.	5th
1993	Madras	North Korea	2 - 0	Romania B	3 nos.	3rd
1995	Kolkata	Iraq	1 - 0	Russia	5 nos.	4th
1997	Kochi	Iraq	3 - 1	Uzbekistan	5 nos.	3rd
2007	New Delhi	India	1 - 0	Syria	4 nos.	1st
2009	New Delhi	India	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 5 - 4 (Penalty)	Syria	4 nos.	1st
2012	New Delhi	India	2 – 2 (a.e.t.) 5 - 4 (Penalty)	Cameroon B	4 nos.	1st

 

·        Soviet Union is still the most successful team. (4 times Winner and once Runner-up).

·        India (3 times Winner) and Iraq (2 times Winner) never lost in Final who made it to final for more than once.

·        China reached to Final 4 times, but lost in all instances.

·        Similarly Syria lost in both the Finals to India

·        Kolkata, Kochi and New Delhi hosted 3 Nehru Cups each

·        Sunil Chhetri led the current team; while Baichung Bhutia was Captain for both 2007 and 2009 editions

 

Some Interesting Facts of Indian Football

 

·        Between 1948 and 1960, Indian Football Team appeared for Olympics (4 times in a row).

·        Interestingly in 1948 and 1952, India participated while barefoot.

·        In 1956, India became the first Asian team to reach Olympic Semi-final.

·        India qualified for the 1950, but they refused to go. Apparently, they didn't really understand what the World Cup was, so they decided not to attend. However another source says India said no because FIFA would not let them play in bare feet.

·        Indian Football Team won Gold in Asian Games twice including the opener (1951 and 1962) and once won Bronze (1970)