CHENNAI: That night in Ahmedabad – when India miraculously beat a much-favoured Iran side to qualify to the 2026 AFC Asian cup – will remain forever in the memory of head coach Bibiano Fernandes. It came at a time when Indian football was at its rock bottom with administrative chaos and the failures of the senior national team. Now, the blue colts, on the back of playing friendlies in the beginning of the year, seem prepared for a tough tournament set to begin in Saudi Arabia from May 5.
India are placed in Group D with defending champions Uzbekistan, Australia. North Korea, which was drawn into this group, have withdrawn from the tournament. That win in November 2025 seems to have given bucketloads of confidence. “After that match (vs Iran), we really worked hard to bring the level up. The boys look really good now after playing so many international friendlies. And just not playing but they got good results against top teams like South Korea (1-2 loss), Thailand (2-2 draw), Indonesia (3-0 win), UAE (1-5 loss), Tajikistan (4-2 win, 0-0 draw) and Qatar (0-0 draw, 1-1 draw). So we tried to get the levels high keeping in mind the group we have,” he told this daily in a virtual interaction facilitated by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Fernandes is someone who believes in having players make quick decisions under pressure. He revealed that the team is working more on making quick decisions. “The higher levels we go, the less space and time we have. We should be able to make those decisions, communicate and execute in less time. In the training sessions, we make the space much less and push the boys to make those decisions. Playing teams like Tajikistan, UAE, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Qatar, where they don't give you much space on the field, helped us. After the training sessions and matches against the said opponents the boys are creating scoring chances and are able to keep the ball under pressure as well,” he said.
For Fernandes, this will be his third Asian Cup as coach. He led the Blue Colts to a quarterfinal finish in 2018, and a group stage finish in the 2023 edition. It is to be noted that he led the U17 side to qualification for the 2020 edition which had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. He felt that from his experience here, the current batch is getting technically better. “Since qualifying to the quarterfinals in 2018, there has been a lot of youth development. The Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) is also helping us so much. With this batch, the players are getting technically better. Their decision-making is better than what it was back then. But the talent is there. Every time I take up the U-17 national team, the talent is there. As coaches, we get so much knowledge now that we can implement it. So all these things have helped the boys and the group is different from what we had before,” he explained.
And with this batch of players, Fernandes believes that India can go all the way. Finishing in the top-two of their group would guarantee them a spot in the U17 FIFA World Cup as well as the knockouts of the Asian tournament. “We will try to give our best with Australia to win. Because it gives me and the players confidence. The way we have performed against Iran. We will not wait for the last game to go all out. We will go all out from the start. And once we are in the field, we will try to win,” he said.