Football
Sunaadh Sagar in Bhubaneswar 1y

Astam and Mia, India and USA - stark contrasts but also a sign of what's possible

The contrast couldn't be starker.

Two press conferences within minutes of each other today: First, India's captain, Astam Oraon, disarmingly excited ahead of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, a tournament that represents the culmination of her dreams. Next, Mia Bhuta, Indian-origin star of the US team - media-savvy, equally excited but for whom this World Cup might just be a stepping stone to future success.

Both teenagers, both born to Indian fathers, but with very different pasts and in all likelihood, different futures. Despite all the narratives, they will share the same field come Tuesday, when India begin their campaign against the USA, in what is very much David vs Goliath.

The David in question here is India, and one of the stones in the sling is Astam. A defender plying her trade at left back, the Jharkhand native had a tough upbringing in her remote village, which lacked electricity when she was a child, and only recently was the beneficiary of a proper road leading to her house, ostensibly built in her name, for her achievements. Her parents, farmers and daily-wage labourers, are understandably proud.

"My family members are very happy, they always advise me to perform well and give my best, supporting everyone, because I'm the captain. We feel mentally strong for tomorrow and will try to win the match."

That last phrase though, trails off, almost as if Astam realises, at that very moment, the magnitude of the task facing India. USA are four-time World Cup winners at the senior level, though curiously enough they have never won the U-17 competition, with their best result being a lost final in 2008.

India's coach Thomas Dennerby isn't overawed despite India's underdog tag. "We have a team that we know can defend very well," he said, sitting alongside Astam. "So one thing that I hope everybody can see tomorrow, it's going to be hard to score against us and if we can utilise our own chances, there's a good chance for us to come out with points against the USA."

Marshalling USA's midfield on the pitch, though, will be Mia, whose father is the very embodiment of the American dream, having left Rajkot for the US when he was 16. Mia already has a bit of history to her name - she's the first-ever player of Indian descent to represent the USWNT in a World Cup.

She makes an immediate impression in the pre-match press conference too, articulate and poised, saying all the right things, noting that she's following her dream aged 16, just like her father did. She's even the impromptu translator for her coach, Natalia Astrain, when the accents get a bit difficult.

She represents arguably the best functioning women's football system in the world, with a structured path towards becoming a professional football player. There's little of the scattershot approach Astam has had to deal with in her path, to say nothing of the difference in social stigmas the pair have had to face.

The contrasts extend to the future as well. After this World Cup Mia will join Stanford University, where her academic and sporting futures have perhaps the best possible foundations to build on. Astam, on the other hand, has to deal with the uncertainty of women's football in India. Despite the AIFF's new administration promising big things, women's football is still in its infancy, and even with good intentions, things can get difficult.

Yet, a World Cup can be a great leveller, and as the pair pose for a photo-op (Team USA gifting sports gear to girls from a local academy), one is struck as to how both represent their respective sporting structures to a tee.

The two press conferences also revealed one - painful - link between these two teams: the cloud of sexual abuse. A recent independent report into the USA's National Women's Soccer League (NSWL) talks of 'a league in which abuse and misconduct - verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct - had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims'.

The Indian team was, till a few months ago, trained by former assistant coach Alex Ambrose; he was sacked after allegations of sexual misconduct against him while the team was on tour in Europe.

The response today from both coaches when asked about these uncomfortable topics was also similar. Astrain sidestepped the question, noting she's just a coach, agrees with the federation's statement and brings up the good the NWSL has done for the women's game. Similarly, Dennerby was keen to underline they had moved past the Ambrose episode, saying "The only thing we focus on now is the World Cup and everything that had been going on before... it's past us now. We don't even think about that at all any longer in the squad. So for us, it's forever gone."

It's important, even while celebrating the potential for good that this World Cup promises, to not forget and move on. There's an exciting game to play in front of a full crowd, goals to score, a World Cup to win. But the tournament's #KickOffTheDream hashtag will only be realised if it can be used as a wake-up call too.

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