Right hand lifted, forefinger pointing up, Ryan Williams said an Akash Mishra pass with his right foot had ended in the car park. It was an exaggeration, alright, but made the point about Mishra nor being known to have a strong right foot. And yet without a competitive match this season because his club Mumbai City FC had skipped the Durand Cup, the left back got it right when it mattered.
The move was one of the things India had worked on in the training camp here, said Williams. “It’s quite old school, feed it back and put it behind,” said the former Australia forward who became an Indian citizen last year. “But it worked against a World Cup team. So, credit to the coaching staff and credit to Akash.”
The pass, after Bijoy Verghese played a Mishra throw-in back to him, led to Williams scoring his second goal in three matches for India. The 41st minute strike put India in front here on Friday. Omar Valencia equalised in the 68th but against a team ranked 44th in the world, the 1-1 result would rank as one of the best for the men’s senior national football team. India are 138th in the FIFA rankings.
Williams also gave credit to Manvir Singh for taking a defender away. India lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Singh and Williams as the strikers. “Manvir and I worked really well, one short, one long,” said Williams. “Our job was to try and hold the ball and get something—a throw, a corner—and we did that for the most part.”
In a difficult game, the players focussed on each individual action instead of the whole 90 minutes, said Williams, 32. “If you can do that to the best of your ability, it will slowly build,” he said, moving one palm over another. “We were really happy with how we took the ball from back to front. It was a performance we should all be very proud of… one we will take a lot of confidence from.”
India play five-time world champions Brazil and twice World Cup winners Uruguay next, on October 3 and 6. Both matches will be in Kolkata.
Phlegmatic and self-effacing, his answers much more cryptic than those from Williams, Khalid Jamil agreed that India could have started the international window with a win. “If we had a little more belief,” he said. Panama’s goal may have come from a slip in concentration, said the India head coach.
Starting as a 16-year-old at Portsmouth in 2010, Williams joined Bengaluru FC in 2023 after a decade in England which was followed by stints at clubs in the A-League. With his technique and footballing nous Williams, adjudged player of the match, has been an excellent addition to the team. He said the squad deserves credit for helping him bed in.
“They made me feel welcome. They could have excluded me from a lot of things because I am an outsider. But they have been amazing, giving me confidence in every game I played.”
Chaubey, Paul absent
The last time India played here, the match ended with All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey jumping into the arms of then head coach Igor Stimac. That was after winning the 2023 SAFF Championship final against Kuwait, one of the teams invited for the competition. Chaubey was conspicuous by his absence on Friday but even more striking was national team director Subrata Paul not being here.
No official reason was provided but speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, AIFF officials said both were busy with arrangements for the remaining games. In the absence of big-ticket corporate backing, gate sales could be the largest source of revenue for AIFF. Tickets were available for ₹499 here but most of them were between 1500 to 10,000. For the game against Brazil, tickets for ₹999 and ₹1,500 are sold out but the bulk is priced between ₹3,500 to ₹25,000. The range for tickets for the India-Uruguay match is ₹799-9,999.
The turnout here was less than 10,000 leaving swathes of empty space on the stands. Speaking separately, three federation officials said that demand is tepid in Kolkata, especially for the last game. They said it was because most found the tickets to be too expensive. The officials requested that they not be named because they are not authorised to speak on the matter.
The officials said including appearance fee, agents commission, one-way chartered flight for Brazil and Uruguay each and accommodation, AIFF could be spending around ₹85 crore. “We have not recovered 50% of the cost yet,” said an official.