By IANS
Kolkata : Whenever Brazil wins, football-crazy Kolkata erupts in joy but India’s historic win in the Nehru Cup final Wednesday received a lukewarm response here with people showing little interest in the match.
While the celebration mood was totally missing here after India defeated higher-ranked Syria 1-0 in the finals in New Delhi, former footballers and experts here evinced immense satisfaction as the win opens a new vista of Indian football.
“This kind of victory would always fuel the confidence level of the team. With this historic win, we have proved that India can also play good football against any team,” former footballer and coach P.K. Banerjee said, adding the victory against Syria created a milestone in the history of India football.
Former Indian footballer and East Bengal coach Subrata Bhattacharya also echoed similar sentiments. “We have played consistently well in the entire match. This result would definitely encourage our boys to achieve more success in the days to come,” he said.
Prasun Banerjee, former Indian captain and member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) technical committee, said: “It’s a great day for Indian football. India is going in the right direction and this credit goes to (All India Football Federation president) Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, coach Bob Houghton and the team that performed brilliantly in Wednesday’s match.”
But many football lovers of Kolkata did not sound very enthusiastic about the result.
“Though I could not find time to watch the football match, it’s always good that India secured victory in the Nehru Cup final against a foreign team,” said Bimal Das, a die-hard football lover from South Kolkata.