Kolkata: In 2019, after India lost 1-2 to Oman having led till the 82nd minute, head coach Igor Stimac said the team could not keep looking only to Sunil Chhetri for goals.
Chhetri had put India ahead from a Brandon Fernandes free kick, a training ground drill executed to perfection, but India missed opportunities to kill the contest leading to Stimac speaking about the need for goals from other players.
Following the high of a 0-0 draw away to Qatar, India’s goals that year came from central defender Adil Khan and wide forward Seiminlen Doungel, both off Fernandes’s set-pieces, but it was only in 2023 that Stimac got what he wanted.
Of the 21 goals India scored that year, seven came from players not designated as forwards. Anirudh Thapa started the trend against Myanmar in the three-nation tournament and India had goals from Sandesh Jhingan, Udanta Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad and, including goals away from home against Iraq and Malaysia, three from Naorem Mahesh Singh in his first year of international football.
No coincidence therefore that 2023 was also India’s best year – Stimac’s team won 10 of their 15 matches, two of them against higher-ranked opponents (Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon) – this century. India won three tournaments, broke into the top-100 and also had a rare away win in a World Cup qualifier. It was the only time between 2015 and now that they had notched up double digits in the wins column.
It was also the last time India won a competitive match. Inability to get goals from players in different positions is one reason for that. It is also why goals scored per game has, as per data provided by All India Football Federation (AIFF), come down from 1.64 between 2015-19 to 0.75 now. As per AIFF data, the goals conceded per game consistently stayed over 1 between 2015 to now.
Chhetri has been head and shoulders above his teammates when it comes to goals. He has got 49 of the 138 India have scored since 2015. Between 2015 and 2019 Chhetri also had the strong and powerful Jeje Lalpekhlua as his fellow striker, the two linking up superbly to score in the 1-0 win against Kyrgyzstan in 2017. Lalpekhlua also scored in the 4-1 win against Thailand in the 2019 Asian Cup before his career got derailed by injury.
But equally crucially, 41 of those 138 goals, or 29.7%, have come from players not designated as forwards. Apart from Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Nishu Kumar, Rahul Bheke, Fulganco Cardozo, Narayan Das, Nikhil Poojary and Narender Gahlot are some of the defenders who got goals for India. Jackichand Singh, Suresh Wangjam, Rowlin Borges, Mohammed Rafique and Halicharan Narzary have stepped up from the midfield to do that as have Samad, Doungel, Udanta and Mahesh. Ashique Kuruniyan too, when used a wide player.
Chhetri retired, returned but India’s goals dried up after 2023. In four matches this year, India have scored only in one. In 15 matches since the start of 2024, Rahul Bheke is the only player who wasn’t a forward to have scored. The defender’s goals have come against Malaysia in 2024 and Maldives in March.
Strikers not scoring is a concern AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey spoke about at last Friday’s press conference in New Delhi. India has not been able to produce a good striker in the past 10 years, he said. The former goalkeeper said it would be difficult for a player used in a different role at his club to play as a striker for India with little time to train.
Which makes it even more important that goals come from players in other areas of the pitch. Teams do well when that happens. Defenders Subhasish Bose, Tom Aldred and Alberto Rodriguez sharing 13 goals, or one-fourth of the club’s tally of 52, was an important reason why Mohun Bagan Super Giant did the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) shield and cup double. Bagan scored 23 goals from set-piece situations in ISL last term.
Choubey has spoken of the need for a discussion on how to increase game time for Indian strikers. Isn’t it also time for a conversation on ways to do better at set-plays and find out why India’s defenders and midfielders lack front-third sharpness?