KOLKATA: THIS time ten years ago, Diego Forlan graced the football pitches of Indian cities, as he plied his trade for Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC. That season, Mumbai were knocked out in the semifinals at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata. Cut to the present, Forlan is back in the City of Joy and set to be on the touchline but at a different venue — Salt Lake Stadium.
Ranked 138th, the Indian football team last year failed to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup, the first time since 2015. However, the friendly matches against higher-ranked opponents come as an opportunity to see and learn how the best functions.
Speaking to reporters during the pre-match press conference here on Monday, the former striker believed that there is talent across the country. “In my six months here in Mumbai, I got to know some good players. And as a manager, we saw how India played against Brazil, we saw that there were some good players,” Forlan said.
But as Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti had pointed out, Forlan also believed that football in India is second-fiddle to cricket. Asked to respond to the Italian’s comment, the former Manchester United footballer replied, “Well, your main sport is cricket. It has been football for so many years, but it's not the main sport. That's quite different sometimes, but the country has a lot of people. There's a lot of young talented players. In the near future, India could be playing some important games,” he said.
Uruguay has always boasted the best attacking names in football. Forlan, Luiz Suarez, Edinson Cavani and now Darwin Nunez are the names one could immediately think of. On the other side, India are struggling to find a heir to legendary striker Sunil Chhetri. He initially retired from international football in 2024, but returned the following year at the request of former head coach Manolo Marquez. He again retired in March 2025.
Forlan believed that for a nation like India to grow talent, they need to ‘build from the roots.’ “(There needs to be more academies) and a lot of young kids need to play. Here, your culture is about cricket. You play and you want titles and everybody's dreaming of playing the sport. That way, the main sport for us is football. If you build more academies, the league gets stronger and stronger, then you will get better players, that's for sure,” he said.
While encouraging signs were there to see in India’s two friendly matches, there is still a long way to go for the nation to become a World Cup-playing nation. Getting better in Asia would be a start.
