NEW DELHI: Whenever an international team goes out to play a World Cup, there is often a small entourage accompanying them — the WAGs aka wives and girlfriends. India's first ever World Cup team is a bit to young to have WAGs following them around. The extended entourage though is there — the Moms and Dads.
The team has now twice walked out the loudest cheers at the JN Stadium, but there was always a section in the top tier that cheered a little bit louder than the others. For it is here that the All India Football Federation has seated their parents, family and friends. Many of them have come down from far-flung corners of the country to see their sons, whom they've seen little of in the past two years, play in a World Cup.
Umakanta Singh knows a thing or two about football. He is a graduate of the same Chandigarh Football Academy that his brother Amarjit Singh joined when he was 10. Umakanta watched on proudly as Amarjit captained India in their first ever World Cup game on Friday. He was not too happy with the result though.
"We played decently, but they were just too strong," Umakanta says. "I hope somewhere down the line, we can come up with a better result." His mother, dressed in traditional Manipuri clothes, smiled by his side, as did Ninthoinganba Meitei's mother who was with them.
Boris Singh's father Thangjam Mohesh used to run a shop in Manipur before its closure forced him to become a daily wager. Every day he stays away from home means a loss of income, but that hasn't stopped him from coming down here to support his son and his team. Accompanying him is his wife, Boris' younger brother and a couple of friends. One of them is clad in the defender's old jerseys, 'Boris 2' writ large on the back.
Boris did not take to the field during the first game owing to a red card he received in India's final match of the AFC U-16 Championships in Goa last year. Mahesh and his family, though, turned up to watch the opener. Now he waited anxiously in the stadium ahead of the second match, waiting to see if his son was going to start India's second game against Colombia.
"I am slightly nervous," Mohesh says. "I talked to him before the match and he seemed fairly confident that he would be starting. Seven people have come down from our village. So I hope he starts."
Mohesh wasn't to be disappointed. Barely an hour later, Boris strode out with the rest of his team, wearing blue. His entire family was on their feet, applauding him onto the pitch.