Olympic 2000 - Asian Group 9 Qualifying

No Name of the Players Position Club 1998/99
01 Prashanta Dora Goalkeeper East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ Dinesh Nair Goalkeeper FC Kochin - Kochi
__ Kalyan Chaubey Goalkeeper Bengal Mumbai FC - Mumbai
__ Falguni Datta Defender East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ Lorendra Singh Defender Mohun Bagan Athletic Club - Calcutta
__ Anit Kumar Ghosh Defender East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ Deepak Kumar Mondal [vice-Captain] Defender JCT Mills - Phagwara
__ Mahesh Gawli Defender FC Kochin - Kochi
__ Suresh Muttiah Defender Karnataka
__ Hardip Singh Sangha Midfielder JCT Mills - Phagwara
__ Renedy Singh Midfielder East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ James Lukram Singh Midfielder Mohun Bagan Athletic Club - Calcutta
__ AS Firoze Midfielder FC Kochin - Kochi
__ Noel Wilson Midfielder FC Kochin - Kochi
__ Roque Barreto Midfielder Churchill Brothers - Goa
__ Bijen Singh Forward East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ Sheikh Sanjib Forward East Bengal Club - Calcutta
__ Dipendu Biswas [Captain] Forward Mohun Bagan Athletic Club - Calcutta
__ Alvito D'Cunha Forward Salgaocar Sports Club - Goa
__ Surjeet Singh Forward JCT Mills - Phagwara
AM Sreedharan Coach
Shankar Mitra Coach
K Sampat Goalkeeper Coach
Mohan Raj Manager
PK Banerjee Technical Director

Laos, Singapore and Brunei declared their intention of backing out, leaving only Thailand and India in to battle for a place in the second round in a two-legged home-&-away format. India travel first travel to Bangkok while then India host the Thai's at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta.
July 17: Thailand 2-0 India - Suphan Buri - goals: 1:0 Bamruang Boonprom (48'), 2:0 Nirut Surasiang (76').
Defensive errors cost India dear as they went down to Thailand by two second half goals in the first leg of the Pre-Olympic Asia Group-9 football qualifier at Suphan Buri near Bangkok. India, who were looking for at least a draw, held on gamely in the first half but were outplayed by their nippy rivals after change of ends. Bamruang Boonprom put the hosts ahead three minutes into the second half and Nirut Surasiang made it 2-0 in the 76th minutes and the score stayed that way till the end with Indian forwards messing up a few chances towards the fag end. India had a golden chance to reduce the margin 10 minutes from the end, but forward Bijen Singh shot wide from the top of the box with the defence in disarray and the goalkeeper out of position. An away goal would have counted for two which would have put India at a big advantage hosting the Thais in the second leg to be held in Calcutta on July 24. India, who woke up only after going 0-2 down, were again denied by a superb goalline save by Jackapong Hanshwan. Bijen's goal- bound header off a fine chip by Hardip Sangha was headed out by the tall and well-build defender. A couple of minutes later Renedy Singh failed to connect a fine pass from Sangha inside the box. The midfielder was clear after shaking off his marker but went for a first-time shot with the all the time at his disposal and only kicked air. The Indian tactics against the speedy Thais seemed to work well early on as coach PK Banerjee's defensive play enabled them end the first half goalless.
India: Kalyan Choubey, Falguni Dutta, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal, Suresh Muttiah, Roque Barreto, James Singh, AS Firoze, Hardip Singh Sangha, Alvito D'Cunha (Bijen Singh), Dipendu Biswas (Renedy Singh).
July 24: India 0-0 Thailand - Calcutta - goal: none.
It called for an inspired performance but while inspiration was at a premium, the performance was, at best, bland. To torpedo Thailand in this Group 9 Olympic qualifier, India needed to play out of their skins. But they failed to rise to the occasion and therefore couldn't bridge the two-goal gap that separated the teams. A barren draw in the home match of this double-leg first-round tie just wasn't good enough for the country that was the first from this continent to play in the Olympic's football tournament. Lacking fresh ideas and reduced to lobbing balls into the penalty-box and then hoping for the best, India are now out of the race for a berth in Sydney. But while our wait stretches into the next millennium, Thailand live to fight another day. Their 2-0 win at home, in Suphan Buri one week ago, took them to the top of this two-team group and into the second round where they will battle Japan and Kazakhstan for a berth in the final round of the qualifying competition. Thailand will leave on Monday but for the hosts dispersal starts tomorrow. From then on, it will be business as usual for the Dipendus and the Doras as they plunge into hectic club activity. Till another international engagement, after which things will again be back to square one. Given the seriousness with which the AIFF prepares national squads, not many are hopeful that this vicious cycle will ever end. Thailand, Indians said yesterday, weren't invincible. But the only time India really proved that was when Alvito D'Cunha embarked on a brilliant solo run at 11 minutes from time. Looking for an early goal, the hosts began briskly. They got the match's first chance, in the 7.minute, but the angle got too narrow for Bijen Singh and he shot into the side netting. Five minutes later, AS Firoze, who worked tirelessly as a defensive midfielder, beat goalie Watcharapong Klahan but he kept the shot out with his foot. Thailand got their first, and the match's best, opportunity in the 9.minute. Prasanta Dora, however, showed electric reflexes to save two close-range shots that had goal written all over them. The debutant first blocked midfielder Sombut Chomchaypon's effort and then dived to his left to keep out striker Bamrung Boonprom's drive off the rebound. Their only other chance came in the 23rd minute but medio Teerasak Po-On couldn’t get enough power - following a three-pass move that scissored India’s resistance in the middle - to beat Dora in a one-on-one situation. More eager not to let in a goal rather than try anything adventurous, Thailand rarely ventured up the park thereafter. Up by a brace, they didn't need to. All the urgency had to come from India but they could not force the pace. And often, didn't press enough to win balls in the middle. Each Indian build-up was an elaborate tapestry of square-passes rather than forward-propelling moves. The midfield quartet's reluctance to aid the attack meant that there was often a huge gap between them and the forwards. Indians kept lobbing balls into the Thai 18-yard box hoping captain Dipendu Biswas would set up Bijen. But Biswas, who's got more goals with headers than he'd care to remember, got beaten to most of them by Thailand's three-man defence. Also, many times, the forwards were too close to each other to spell danger. Yet, India could have taken the lead on the verge of half-time but Bijen shot out a poor clearance despite getting a full view of the goal. His misses in Thailand had cost India dear. His miss today effectively snuffed out chances of a comeback. Early in the second half, Bijen did 'score' but was pulled up for pushing. As did Dipendu, in the 85th, but was offside. In between, India's predictable build-ups continued, the monotony being broken only by D'Cunha. But the Goan´s shot, following a solo run and from an acute angle, narrowly missed the target after beating the ’keeper. India's last chance came three minutes from time, but Renedy volleyed over and with it yesterday's pronouncements of hope were reduced to nothingness in the near empty Saltlake stadium, were only around 12,000 spectators were present to support the young team.
pictures from the match India vs Thailand

India: Prasanta Dora, Falguni Dutta, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal, Suresh Muttiah, Roque Barreto (Sheikh Sanjib, 53'), AS Firoze, James Singh (Noel Wilson, 29'), Renedy Singh, Bijen Singh (Alvito D'Cunha, 69'), Dipendu Biswas.

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