India’s only world cup (dis)appearance

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India did make it to the world cup, once. Kind of. Well, not really:

No, don’t rub your eyes in disbelief. India did make it to the 1950 World Cup finals. Well sort of. Four countries from Asia were invited to participate in the qualifiers. Burma, Philippines and Indonesia all withdrew, so India qualified automatically.

India was placed in Group 3 with Sweden, Italy, and Paraguay. But their request to play barefoot was turned down by FIFA and they withdrew! [Link]

Sadly, this was back in the hey day of Indian Soccer, too. Until some South Asian team makes it to the world cup, we’ve always got Vikas Dhorasoo and his action figures, right?

164 thoughts on “India’s only world cup (dis)appearance”

  2. Ok, I went and looked up African countries Area and population info on Wikipedia. I was wrong about Kenya being large, Kenya is not the biggest in terms of area. Not even close. But the more interesting number is the population density number. No. of people/ sq. mile The higher the population density the higher the likelyhood of that country being good in sports.

    Ennis, agreed that most African nations that do make it to the world cup come from the “French” part of Africa, as in West and Central West. 2010 World Cup will teach a lot about Africa to the world as it will host the world cup.

  3. RC, Ennis —

    Nigeria have made it several times, as have South Africa. There’s nothing inherently Francophone about the African delegation over the years. In fact historically the best African footballing nations have been Ghana and Nigeria (Anglo), and Cameroon (Franco and Anglo). More recently Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire (Franco) have joined the party, along with Angola (Luso).

    Remember that Africa has had few allotted spots in the WC historically. The present number of 5 only since the finals field was expanded from 24 to 32. North Africa is included, so you generally have one or two spots going to the likes of Morocco or Egypt where the game is good. In fact all the North African countries besides Libya have all played in the WC finals.

    Re: Kenya, East Africa doesn’t have as strong a footballing tradition. However, Uganda and Rwanda have made some noise recently. Zambia has been a regional power, and Zimbabwe are no slouches.

    One overall trend worldwide is that there are no “small countries” anymore. Sure, the semifinal field ended up being traditionan Euro powers, but if you look at the world game, there are all kinds of Eastern European, Asian, African. Central American, Caribbean etc countries with credible sides. Add a really good foreign coach and the sky’s the limit.

    BTW, look for Klinsmann to be the next US coach. Would be a great move for US soccer.

  4. 2010 World Cup will teach a lot about Africa to the world as it will host the world cup.\

    Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon all had decent runs in the World Cup – but there is no consistent African World Cup power. In the end it always comes down to a few European nations and Argentina/Brazil. There is a concentration of winners from two continents – and from nowhere else. The biggest surprise winner in recent history has to be France in ’98. It will be nice to see the very real possibility of an African semifinalist in S. Africa. (S. Africa has an automatic bid.)

    And on to world cup cricket ’07. The grounds being built (mostly by the Chinese!) in Grenada, St. Lucia, etc., look absolutely fabulous. I have a feeling that a very large contingent of India/Pakistan fans will be American desis. Get ur tickets now! 🙂 American desis do not have the British/Australian desi dilemna of rooting for the desh vs. their current homes. Go South Asia.

  5. Manju, DJ 88,

    For Italy, go to Little Italy or any of the hundreds of solid Italian cafes or restaurants scattered around the city. One premier spot is L’Angolo on Houston St.; get there early and be prepared to pay twenty bucks for the privilege of being there. Worth it if you’ve not done it before.

    For France, try L’Orange bleue in Soho, Jolie on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn, a place (don’t remember the name, sure you can find it or google it) near 57th and Lex, the French restaurants on Smith St in Brooklyn, or Red Bamboo in Ft Greene. And there are many more, just look around.

    My two cents: Forget about national atmosphere, this is a WC final and anyone from any footballing country will be paying attention. Find yourself a relaxed spot with foreign ownership and neutral crowd, a good viewing situation (good quality TV), and most importantly a place where they are showing it on Univision not ABC/ESPN.

    Or, get together with friends at someone’s place. Remember, the final is usually not a great match, so having food beverages and friends around is a nice thing.

    peace

  6. On a sidenote, the TOI claims that many Goans were rooting for Portugal. Anyone confirm/deny?

    Heh heh. I know at least one Goan who was annoyed that Portugal lost. But I can’t find anything in the marriage vows that says I’m obliged to comfort her.

  7. I’ve been catching my matches @ Bar XII on 34th between 2nd and 3rd. Neutral crowd. It’s open air so you get a lot of cabbies and bus drivers that will pull over to ask the score. Adds to the fun of it all. It’s huge with wall to wall TVs. You can’t miss the action all the way to the bathroom 🙂

  8. but back to the penalty, ricardo almost got a hand on it. the beautiful thing about the penalty was the way zidane took it. not even two strides — a small step, followed by a longer step and right into the kick. he knew exactly what he was doing and wasn’t afraid to show it (from the position he stood in over the ball and the short distance, the probability of a low hook to the left was very high). he just did it. that’s calm and confidence. ricardo couldn’t do much more than he did… i’d still put him as goalie in my world cup starting XI.

    No doubting Ricardo as a goalie although its hard to choose him over Buffon, but i was struck by how Ricardo acted during the PKs against England versus against Zidane. Zidane was not going for it, which was a contrast to the previous game in which Ricardo was almost nonchalant as the other player came to the ball. it seemed to be a piquant moment. of everyone though, no one beats Barthez, the man is pure rock solid technqiue (;-)

  9. For Italy, go to Little Italy or any of the hundreds of solid Italian cafes or restaurants scattered around the city. One premier spot is L’Angolo on Houston St.; get there early and be prepared to pay twenty bucks for the privilege of being there. Worth it if you’ve not done it before.

    I can’t believe I didn’t think of Little Italy, but I guess it was because I was trying to think of a decent sports bar and Little Italy makes me think of small cafes and restaurants. Also, I have been seriously neglecting downtown ever since I migrated to midtown and then the upper east side from the LES.

    I think I’ll take your advice on finding a neutral location to watch, it’ll probably be better that way. Things might get ugly for brown people if dhorasoo scores a goal.

  10. DJ 88 — the other thing you could do, for the serious Italian flava, is head up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Someone I spoke to yesterday told me it’s been hopping.

    peace

  11. well, here is some unsolicited commentary on the World Cup, i hope no one takes offense at the liberty of writing commentary like this without prompting, but its the World Cup, hyperbole makes the broth.

    but first; Zidane is a master of the game, the way he distributes the ball to teamates, he is like Magic Johnson except he plays on a stage of much greater scale. he is a wonderful player whose goal is to make the entire team perform well. is he the best player of our generation? it would seem so. i’m so happy to have seen him do well in this world cup

    also, i thought Cannavaro’s last play to win the ball against Germany and send the ball forward ultimately to create the goal by Del Pierro was inspired. To me Cannavaro is another player of great spirit.

    the World Cup spirit awards for me go to Zidane, Ribary, Cannavaro, Buffon, Ricardo, the mexican keeper Sanchez, and Lennon; these players I watched and felt thrilled to see!

    ps……….women and others who want to notice it, Figo and Zidane exchanged jerseys at the end of the game, i am sure it would beat the picture of the beautiful brazilian woman in one of the other posts, for you. for me, that picture was my favorite picture of the Cup, although some of the Portugease fans were amazingly beautiful

  12. ps if Dhorasoo scores a goal in the final i will probably pass out from euphoria

  13. How many here think that if biggies like Zidane, Cannavaro and others don’t catch on fire, tomorrow’s match will come down to the respective goal keeping ability (or inability) of Buffon and Barthez?