India Football Formation

Lineup (5-3-2)

B. Anthony · Syed Khwaja Azizuddin · Sailendra Nath Manna (c) · Noor Mohammed · Abdul Latif · Abhoy Ghosh · M. Ahmed Khan · P.B.A. Saleh · Santosh Nandy · Pansanttom Venkatesh · Sahu Mewalal

India "Asian Champion XI" (1951)

Indian Football team won the Gold Medal in the 1951 New Delhi Asian Games.

1951–1962 is usually considered as "golden phase" of Indian football. The National team won numerous titles in this era under the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim. Other than success in Asian Games football India also won Merdeka Cup and Quadrangular Tournament while East Bengal Club (among the two of the most illustrious Football club in India - the other one being Mohun Bagan) garnered rave reviews after its tour of Romania. Rahim's death in the early 1960s pegged Indian football back after a successful period. India won its second (and last so far) Asian Games title in 1962.


TEAM :
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Goalkeepers : B. Anthony (Bengal), K.L. Varadaraj (Mysore).

Full Backs : Sailendra Nath Manna (Mohun Bagan AC - CAPTAIN), Syed Khwaja Azizuddin (Hyderabad City Police), T.M. Varghese [alias Papen] (Bombay), Sunil Chatterjee (Bengal).

Half Backs : Abdul Latif (Mohammedan Sporting Club), Noor Mohammed (Hyderabad City Police), Chandan Singh Rawat (Services), Abhoy Ghosh (Bengal), D.N. Jones (Services), T. Shanmugham (Mysore).

Forwards : Pansanttom Venkatesh (East Bengal Club), G.Y.S. Laiq (Hyderabad City Police), M.A. Sattar (Bengal), P.B.A. Saleh (Bengal), Runu Guha Thakurta (Bengal), Sahu Mewalal (Bengal), Santosh Nandy (Bengal), M. Ahmed Khan (Bengal), Loganathan (Madras), A.M. Bachan (Orissa).


COACH: SYED ABDUL RAHIM (Hyderabad).
MANAGER: KARTICK CHANDRA MUKHERJEE (Bengal).

Indian team mostly played in a 2-3-5 formation, or at times in W-M formation (instead of the 5-3-2 as wrongly indicated).



RESULTS :
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Round 1 :
04-May-51: India 3-0 Indonesia - Goals: 1:0,2:0 Sahu Mewalal, 3:0 P. Venkatesh.
Semifinal :
07-May-51: India 3-0 Afghanistan - Goals: 1:0 Sahu Mewalal, 2:0 P. Venkatesh, 3:0 Santosh Nandy.
Final :
11-May-51: India 1-0 Iran - Goal: 1:0 Sahu Mewalal.

Final Result :
India won the Asian Games title.