at the end of the day that is what this is all about. existential angst. strippers who want too much money. days spent dreaming and talking and bitching and arguing about a sport that is never played often enough in this country. football. yet every once in a while football comes home. and home is not old trafford; it is not the emirates stadium, hell its not even yuba bharati krirangan.
football is not the teeming hundreds of thousands that can pack into the sat lake stadium an any give day, because that is not Sir Bob's home ground. his home is none other than the humble Ambedkar Stadium, the tiny football ground that lies in the shadows of the imposing new feroz shah kotla, home of test cricket, centre for excellence, host of the world cup.
when india play here, we are unbeatable. for tonight we dont fear the Thais. if it were the Japanese, we wouldnt fear them either. because in this little compound, on this little patch of grass, where i once chested a ball off the flank, controlled it and slotted it past the keeper, in a game we went on to lose 7-1, INDIA is beyond real.
tomorrow, we will beat Thailand; if not on the field, then in spirit. because at The Ambedkar, India is one. The Bengalis, The Goans, The Mallus, The other ones of us who live and breathe the sport, at Ambedkar, we come together. The Boka Chodas mix with the behen chods, and all that is is left is a 20,000 capacity stadium, full with 30,000 Indians, praying, hoping, bleeding, sweating for a win for the real boys in blue. This is football. this is where India lives. This is where india plays.and this is where bryan robson nd his boys are going to get a very, very special welcome tomorrow evening.
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