FC Pune City colts come of age

While FC Pune City might not have set the Indian Super League (ISL) on fire over the last three seasons, their youth team has certainly been making big strides since its formation last year.
After FCPC took over the successful Pune FC Academy, the team has continued participating in various tournaments like U-18 I-League, PDFA Super Division and the Subroto Cup. Its first involvement in the recently revamped IFA Shield resulted in unprecedent success for the young Stallions as they won the title by beating Mohun Bagan 3-0 in the final.
Goalkeeper Anuj Kumar was proud of the team’s victory and felt it was well deserved.
"It feels really good when we work hard for something and then we achieve it," he said. "We had only two national level tournaments to play throughout the season, the U-19 I-League and the IFA Shield. We didn't do so well in the league so winning the Shield feels good."
The IFA Shield was converted into an U-19 tournament in 2015 and that, coupled with the U-18 I-League has given opportunities to budding football players to hone their skills in a competitive environment.
"It is good that we are getting to play so many games at the national level," said Anuj. "We get to see what kind of players we are up against so that we can work harder at becoming better. These experiences will help us as move on to a higher level of competition."
Spain wowed the world with their tiki taka football and it would seem Roger Lamesa, tasked with developing players in the FCPC Academy, is trying to bring in that approach from his home country.
"Our coach has put more emphasis on the technical part of the game rather than the physical one," said captain Yasir Mohammed. "I remember playing badly in one of the league but he put his trust in me and I have benefitted a lot from that."
Some of the players from the victorious U-19 side will now make the step up to the FC Pune City reserve squad who will ply their trade in I-League II. However, the team will not take part in the I-League if they gain promotion as the rules prevent them from doing so. But CEO Gaurav Modwel insists it was never their intention to play in the top flight of Indian football.
"The whole purpose of putting this team in I-League II is to not get promoted. We are fine with continuing in the second division. The boys’ development process should not stop," he said. "The competitive matches these boys will get to play over the next few years will help them in making the step up to the next level and hopefully we will see some of them in the ISL soon."
The Indian national team beat the Kyrgyz Republic to record their second successive win in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers on Tuesday and their form over the last year has seen them break into the top 100 of the FIFA world rankings.
With India hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup in October this year, things have never looked better for the beautiful game in our country.
"Indian football is developing really well. The national team’s rank has risen from the 150s to the top 100s. They are playing with confidence and are winning competitive games," said Anuj Kumar.
"The U-17 World Cup will be massive and I think it will bring football culture to the country. Unlike other footballing nations, there are only a few places in India like Goa, Kolkata and the North East where football has a big fan following. But only when the national starts playing against the big teams like Spain, Brazil will the people really to start to follow the game," he added.