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The price of ambition: Did India’s Brazil and Uruguay gamble pay off?
India turned down the FIFA ASEAN Cup for the chance to face Brazil and Uruguay - and paid heavily on the scoreboard. But amid the gulf in class came brave football, unprecedented global attention and a clearer sense of where the Blue Tigers stand. Was the gamble ultimately worth taking?
In the crazy world of Indian football, there is seldom a time when there isn’t chaos.
Much like the country itself, chaos is ever-present, but there is a beauty in the chaos if you have the will to look deep into it.
There was widespread furore in the Indian football fraternity when the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced, ahead of the extended September-October FIFA international window, that the senior men’s national team would be playing friendlies against former FIFA World Cup winners Brazil and Uruguay instead of the FIFA ASEAN Cup.
On paper, the South American giants agreeing to play against India definitely looks like a more lucrative option, but the reality is slightly different, and for that we will have to dive a bit deeper.
How did the marquee matches unfold?
Much before the arrival of the football powerhouses, Panama were the first to arrive in the Southern Indian megacity of Bengaluru for the first in the series of three friendlies that were scheduled to take place during the window.
For context, Panama’s most recent competitive fixture before facing India was a group stage clash against England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a game which the Three Lions won 2-0 thanks to second half strikes from Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.
That represented the daunting task that India were about to face; however, much to the surprise of the most optimistic of Indian football fans, the Blue Tigers put in one of their best displays in recent memory, holding Panama to a 1-1 draw at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Ryan Williams opened the scoring in the 41st minute in a move in which the assist provided by left back Akash Mishra was equally good, if not better. Omar Valencia’s long range strike in the second half levelled the scores, but truth be told, India dominated large portions of the match and could have easily walked away with a win on the night.
Next up was the historic visit of Brazil to the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata as India faced the five-time record FIFA World Cup champions for the very first time. Carlo Ancelotti fielded a strong line-up, but riding on the confidence of holding Panama to a draw, India managed to keep the Brazilians at bay for almost the first half hour until, unsurprisingly, the gulf in class became evident.
Chelsea winger Estêvão broke the deadlock with his sixth Seleção goal before the Flamengo duo of Pedro Guilherme and Samuel Lino added to it, with the latter going on to score a brace as the scoreline read 0-4 at full time.
Just three days later, Uruguay brought another daunting challenge. Ex-Liverpool forward Darwin Núñez opened the scoring from 12 yards in the 12th minute. Sporting Lisbon pair Maximiliano Araujo (x2) and Rodrigo Zalazar added their names to the score sheet, as did substitutes Juan Manuel Sanabria and Rodrigo Aguirre.
At the end, the scoreline read 1-6, with India’s silver lining coming from Anirudh Thapa, whose equaliser was celebrated wildly by thousands in the stands and millions watching on their television sets.
The Positives
Despite two distant worlds colliding, the match against Panama showed that bridging the gap is not entirely impossible. For Indian footballers, facing the likes of Brazil and Uruguay was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The scorelines are redundant in this scenario. Conceding 10 goals against world-class opponents shouldn’t be a matter of shame, but should rather be seen as a valuable lesson in exactly where Indian football stands globally. Despite the stature of the opponents, Khalid Jamil refused to set his side up defensively as has been the case in recent times and instead played brave, attacking football.
The other major positive is the worldwide attention that Indian football received during the last few weeks, which isn’t common under the current circumstances.
Reputed international organisations such as Sky Sports and 433 featured India’s matches on their social media channels, while journalists and content creators from Brazil, UK and Korea Republic flew all the way to Kolkata to cover these matches giving a global visibility to football in India.
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India is one of the few countries in the world, alongside the likes of the US and Australia, where football doesn’t rank amongst the top two sports but that doesn’t mean “India has no football culture”, as stated by Carlo Ancelotti before landing in the country. For the outside world, that is generally the case with Ancelotti’s tone changing upon arriving in India.
Diego Forlán was more understanding in his statements, saying he has “…great respect for India and the country has talented footballers”, since he spent the twilight years of his illustrious playing career travelling across the country by playing in the Indian Super League (ISL).
Unrelated to the international matches, the positive momentum gained was carried over to the domestic football scene when Morris Garages (MG) was unveiled as the new title sponsor of the ISL for the 2026/27 season, which got underway four days after the match against Uruguay, running on a new club-led commercial model with all the league matches also to be live-streamed for free on YouTube.
The Negatives
The physical conditioning of Indian footballers was brutally exposed, no more so than by Uruguay, who played the second half with an intensity similar to a high-stakes competitive fixture, putting the Blue Tigers to the sword.
But India’s biggest negatives came off the field. The AIFF paid close to ₹90 crores (USD $9.5m) for these three friendlies after snubbing an invitation to compete in the FIFA ASEAN Cup. Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia heavily criticised the decision, but there are always two sides to a coin, and upon completion of the tournament in Indonesia, the situation can now be better assessed.
India followed neighbours China in withdrawing from the Southeast Asian tournament, with the tournament facing severe blows even before it got underway. Multiple participating nations didn’t even bother to purchase broadcast rights, which meant fans struggled to watch matches legally.
There’s also controversy that hosts Indonesia received favourable treatment and controversial decisions going their way en route to winning the title, with Malaysia and JDT star Bergson da Silva unable to contain his frustration in a now-deleted Instagram post.
All in all, the FIFA ASEAN Cup, modelled similar to the FIFA Arab Cup, faced severe criticism and question marks over if there will even be a second edition of the tournament four years later. Hence, India’s withdrawal from the tournament doesn’t look like such a bad move right now.
What made the general football fans in India more unhappy was AIFF’s own undoing back home. Owing to exorbitant ticket prices, the fans were denied the rare chance to catch a glimpse of the Brazil and Uruguay national teams. As a result, the official attendance in India vs Brazil was 51,402 in an 85,000-capacity arena.
Despite drastically slashing the ticket prices at the last minute for the match against Uruguay, it failed to create the desired ripple effect, with 37,307 fans attending the match when more thoughtful planning and lower pricing could have drawn more fans into the stadium, especially taking into account the festive season that begins later this week.
The Way Forward
It has been a rare year when there are several positives to take into account for the Blue Tigers. After bowing out of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification with a 2-1 win against Hong Kong in Kochi, the national team participated in the Unity Cup in the UK, facing higher-ranked opposition in the form of Jamaica and Zimbabwe.
The trio of friendlies against Panama, Brazil and Uruguay followed. Indian football fans have been crying out for matches against higher-ranked opposition during the last couple of years and when India actually did so, a section of them decided to only point at the negatives.
The fact of the matter is that you can never please everyone. Sunil Chhetri perfectly put into words the magnitude of the recent friendlies when he said that he feels “a little jealous” to watch the current generation get the opportunity to gauge themselves against Brazil and Uruguay.
Next up on the menu, another test against a FIFA World Cup participant awaits when India will make the trip to face New Zealand during next month’s international window for a pair of friendlies in Auckland and Christchurch on November 12 and November 15, respectively.
Then comes the big one, the AIFF General Elections on December 20, with Indian football’s fate for the next few years on the line.
Brazil and Arsenal midfielder Bruno Guimarães, just before departing India, told The Asian Game that: “Indian football has a new follower now.”
With no Asian Cup to look forward to next year, the rebuilding process in Indian football will continue with perhaps more footballing powerhouses discovering India if they make the trip.
And in the words of celebrated Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, “Many small people, in small places, doing small things can change the world.”
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