Late supplies, disastrous backroom staff: Behind India's U17 World Cup campaign

The giddy highs of making a debut at the FIFA World Cup came crashing down for the Indian U17 women's team over the past week as they ended their campaign on Monday with a 0-5 defeat to Brazil. They had earlier lost their other two group matches 0-8 to USA and 0-3 to Morocco.

True, there had not been much expectations from the Indian team in the lead-up to the U17 World Cup either, the hosts having found a place in one of the toughest groups that included powerhouses USA and Brazil. But such a disastrous outing was also unforeseen. A debut World Cup goal remained elusive as the Indian girls kept chasing futile balls throughout the tournament.

"It's painful. It's always painful to leave a World Cup after the group stage. I would say that football is a sport of skilfulness and we have a little bit more to do. That's the truth," India head coach Thomas Dennerby said at the press conference after the Morocco defeat.

The tournament showed the on-field gulf between the Indian team and the rest of the world's best, but there were some off-field disasters behind the scenes as well.

Late boots

It was after the match against USA that the news of the late arrival of football boots broke out. The late delivery meant the players were deprived of getting proper time to get used to their new cleats.

Though there was an immediate apology from Shaji Prabhakaran, General Secretary of AIFF, there were outbursts from the public blaming the authority's incompetence. Many said this incident was symptomatic of the general apathy by the system towards women's football.

"We have sought a report from the national team department of the AIFF. We don't have the full facts how this happened. What we know is that three to four players who wear smaller size boots wanted new boots but those boots reached late to the players," Prabhakaran said.

Misconduct allegations

Head coach Thomas Dennerby drew some flak for his aggressive reactions on the field during India's World Cup matches, but what happened with his support staff was no less than a circus in the lead-up to the tournament.

Allegations against erstwhile assistant head coach Alex Ambrose over sexual misconduct led to the exit of the individual from the squad with immediate effect. Ambrose had been in the thick of things when it came to recruiting U-17 players for the World Cup squad.

AIFF have revealed that Nicole Menezes, the under-17 team's mental conditioning coach, had described a "misconduct of a serious nature" by Ambrose. This person, herself, was also soon to be removed from the set-up.

Meanwhile, Ambrose's departure in the month of June meant the team was in complete disarray just a couple of months before the mega tournament. Head Coach Thomas Dennerby struggled massively had little experience working with the U-17 squad and the Swede had to work his way through to understand his players. If only the Indian coaching staff was as solid a unit as the other sides in the World Cup.

Ouster of mental conditioning coach

Adding to the woes, the absence of a mental conditioning coach within the squad made things even more strenuous for the team.

On October 11, the players unanimously decided to expel mental conditioning coach Nicole Menezes as the team found her sessions to be futile and exhausting. With just a few days left for the World Cup, the federation was reluctant to appoint a new person to the position.

After the humiliating defeat against USA, the Blue Tigresses slumped to the ground in despair. Head Coach Thomas Dennerby was seen trying to uplift the girls from their sorry state. Even though the players had themselves asked for the mental conditioning coach's ouster because they found her sessions unproductive, this is an area where the team's preparations differed majorly from other teams.

In a time and age where football teams focus tremendously on mental conditioning, India U-17 women's team does not even have a single person to turn to for mental fitness.

Several coaches have spoken about this aspect even through the course of the tournament. Morocco's coach said after beating India: "I think this kind of competition, you need to have mental strength. But you don't have to pressure yourself because sometimes that can be a mistake."

The coach of Spain, the defending champions, said at a press conference: "They (mental conditioning coaches) provide these young players a massive support. When we're travelling there's always a member of the team travelling with us. Psychologists, mentors, speak with our players every single day. It's helped our players become very mature."

While the below-par performance of the Indian team cannot be completely pinned on the failure of respective authorities and officials, it is evident that things would have been much better for the young girls at the World Cup if there had been finer resources and provisions.