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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Sudeshna Ghosh | TNN

Meghalaya: No more a cloud-capped football star

The seeds sown in football cannot be reaped in a day, but they do bear fruit with time. Despite reflecting the same craze for the sport that is characteristic of the northeast, Meghalaya has always fallen short in its footballing achievements when compared to its sister states like Manipur and Mizoram, albeit till now.

The history of the northeastern state’s fate at the senior national men’s tournament – Santosh Trophy – is littered with optimistic runs that were never enough to break the final-round barrier. However, all that changed in their latest Santosh Trophy campaign where they not only qualified for the knockout stage but rewrote history by reaching the summit clash of the premier national competition at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.

While they lost to five-time champions Karnataka 3-2 in an eagerly fought final – being played outside India for the first time – Meghalaya’s never-say-die attitude throughout the tournament was the sign for the bright future that had long been due in the football-crazy state.

“It was a dream come true to play in Riyadh and on the same pitch where the likes of Messi and Ronaldo had played not long back,” Meghalaya defender Wanbok Lyngkhoi, who also plies his trade with Shillong Premier League (SPL) champions Mawlai FC, said. “I am sure that it will only get better from here on.”

Improving their stature on the national football scene had long been a dream for the state and MFA had put in a lot of work at grassroots and youth development in the last decade towards that end.

However, apart from the trials conducted by MFA, the chief contributor to their Santosh Trophy squad this time around was SPL, the top football league in the state, that was played from June to September last year.

“Once the squad had been selected, I told Bah Ming (MFA president Larsing Sawyan) that we have a very good team this time,” Meghalaya coach Khlain Syiemlieh, who had guided the team at the last six editions of Santosh Trophy, recalled.

It was then the job of the state association to provide Syiemlieh with the means to mould the youngsters into performers at the competitive meet. And it did that by organising a three-month camp in Shillong that was followed by a week-long residential camp in Tura.

The players also got some match practice before travelling to Odisha by playing two practice games – against North East United and Garo XI – in Tura. North East Olympic Games in November, where they defeated heavyweights Manipur, was also helpful in their preparation.

“We had a very young team to compete against some of the best state teams in the country. But we had good preparation to be ready for the challenge,” Syiemlieh, who had earlier guided Rangdajied SC to their maiden I-League campaign in 2013, said.

While playing on an artificial pitch after training on grass was a disadvantage at the group stage, Meghalaya still managed to emerge on top of their group with some fighting football that included a come-from-behind draw against the hosts in the last fixture that they could not afford to lose.

With the final stage set for February, the squad underwent a week of residential camp in Guwahati to acclimatize to and be prepared for the rising temperatures in Odisha.

The preparations did the job as, despite losing their finals opener against Services, the Meghalaya team romped to victories against Manipur and Delhi, drew with Railways and then scripted history with a comeback win against West Bengal in the last encounter to book their place in the semifinal for the very first time.

In the semis, too, Meghalaya fell behind to a goal from Punjab. This time, it was the bench strength – that had sustained them throughout the tournament with just a day’s break between matches – came to the rescue in the form of winger Sheen Stevenson Sohktung, who had joined the team in Riyadh after an injury to a player in the final stage.

“I looked at the time and it was 87th minute. I told myself ‘there’s still time’,” Sohktung recounts about the crucial winning goal. “I got into a one-two with Donlad (Diengdoh) and on getting the ball back, my first touch was good. I found some space on the left of the goalie and shot it in.”

(AI image)

The 90th-minute strike by the 26-year-old added a new chapter to Meghalaya’s footballing history. But the seed of development had been sown long ago with various initiatives by the state association in nurturing the untapped talent, aplenty in the region.

However, some recent measures by MFA are also aimed at ensuring long-term growth. “Prior to 2010, there was very little development happening at the ground level. Subsequently, we have been working towards ensuring that there were enough coaches around and coach development has been one of our main objectives,” Sawyan

explained.

In fact, there are 276 licenced coaches from Meghalaya who find their name on All India Football Federation (AIFF) website.

“The second priority has been working with the govt in building infrastructure and in the last five years, a significant amount of investment has gone into football grounds and stadiums. Two stadiums in Shillong are being renovated and one should be ready by early summer and the other by autumn,” the MFA chief said.

“Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will probably be meeting all the AFC licencing criteria to host international matches and up to FIFA World Cup level, at least in terms of the pitch and basic infra. The Shillong Sports Association stadium is also being renovated and will be like a typical small EPL kind of venue with 10,000 capacity, artificial turf and

floodlights.”

The third area of focus has been developing a proper player pathway to ensure a continuous supply line to the state team.

“We pioneered the Baby League concept in India in 2017-18. We created the module and the pilot project in a tripartite initiative after the AIFF youth department had come up with the concept. AIFF eventually incorporated it with the same successful pilot model and today it’s spread across the country.

“Although Covid was a bit of a disruption, this year we hope to organise and expand Baby League. But we are also working towards creating a player pathway beyond Baby League by standardising the youth tournaments and hopefully, further improve upon Shillong Premier League,” he concluded.

Hence, although the team is being pampered with felicitations and road shows since their return from Riyadh, Meghalaya looks to be in no mood to rest on that laurel and is eager to scale new heights of football glory.

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