The campaign of the Indian National Football Team at the Asian Games 1998 is over but the tournament can be seen as a new beginning for the Indian Football Team on the international stage. In an interview, an "Indian Olympic Association" official had said in Bangkok, that the IOA was just waiting for a catastrophy to happen to the Indian Football Team! But that luckily did not happen to them, rather a big surprise in the way it played its matches!
India was only able to win once in five matches but they were able to play some good matches on their way. Their only win came against neighbours Nepal but the matches against Japan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and North Korea could have ended with different scores as they all were very close matches but what the team missed was experience. Another important factor was that the Indian Team had no real match practice and exposure, it played its last match before the friendlies against Uzbekistan in November´98 in September´97 at the SAFF Cup, a gap of more than 14 months that is a thing that cannot be tolerated.
The Indian Team played a defensive game in all its matches, which many observers felt was wrong but that was coach Nayeemuddin´s tactic. India played a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 system. In the opinion of  the experts it´s strength actually lay in its attack and I would certainly agree. India´s best players are said to be Baichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan, both strikers but they played below par at the Games, with captain Vijayan partly having to playing as a midfielder. The big gain of the tournament for the Indian National Team was Mohun Bagan´s goalkeeper Hemanta Dora, not sure if going to Bangkok at all, who played a near perfect tournament, with great saves, as he gave the Indian defence a certain stability. The Indian defence also played a good tournament but what India lacked was a playmaker and I fear that there is no one is in sight in the near future who can lead the Indian Team. The game should have been more suited to strikers Bhutia and Vijayan, who could have turned India´s fortunes around but that was not to be. India also took some talented youngsters with them, like Venkatesh (Salgaocar) or Anit Ghosh (East Bengal) and I hope that they get properly trained and get the right exposure, so they can get the optimun out off them.
A match which should especially be mentioned was the first second round match against Turkmenistan which India lost 2-3 but after the 74´ minute India was trailing Turkmenistan 0-3. The Indian Team fought back in the last 15 minutes of the match and reduced the margin to 2-3. This bought the team some respect.
The Indian teams performance can be counted clearly as a step forward but as nothing else. A lot has to be done in the future to take India to the top of Asian Football, were Japan, South Korea, Iran or Saudi Arabia stand at the moment. India will now have to focus on qualifying for the 2000 Asian Nations Cup and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games! Lets hope for the best!!! The AIFF will have to arrange for exposure trips abroad for the team to improve further and get sides from Europe, South America and Africa to play in India against the team, which in my eyes has more in them, then what they showed.