'Vande Mataram' echoes the stadium
Young winger Naorem Mahesh Singh made no mistake and scored the goal in the sudden death. After that, India's goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saved the shot from Kuwait's skipper Khaled Hajiah. It was the moment when Indian crowd shed the tears of joy and sang 'Vande Mataram.'Evolution of Indian football from 2018 to 2023
Back in 2018, Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri had posted a video on Twitter. Chhetri had then urged Indian fans to visit stadiums, watch India play and back the team. He even went on to say that it would be all right if the spectators come to criticise or even abuse them but urged them to at least come to the stadiums, instead of commenting it about the performance on the social media.Fast forward from 2018 to 2023, when India lifted the coveted trophy for the ninth time, a lot of changes in the Indian football team's as well as the supporters' attitude are quite visible. From criticising on social media to showering support at a jam-packed stadium, Indians fans backed the Chhetri-led side like shadows.
This was the atmosphere that India was missing and finally they got their much needed love, a 'crowd support.' The mesmerising chants of 'India-India' and guess what India really delivered.