Kolkata: “Wasn’t Vinicius part of that team?”Lalengmawia Ralte, or Apuia as he is known, is trying to jog his memory about a time a decade ago, when India U-16 had lined up against Brazil at the BRICS Cup in Goa. The visitors, not surprisingly, had a star-studded squad, but India remained competitive with Komal Thatal scoring for the hosts in their 1-3 defeat.Now, as India prepare to face the Brazil national team in a historic clash here on Saturday, Apuia remains the only player to progress from that U-16 BRICS Cup squad to the seniors. In fact, should, as expected, coach Khalid Jamil choose him to anchor the midfield – like he did against Panama – the technically-gifted midfielder will be the first to play twice against a country often referred to as ‘o País do Futebol’ or the country of football.“In age-group competitions, there’s not much of a difference, since as 15 and 16-year-olds, we have the same strength and similar ability,” Apuia told TOI in a recent interaction. “As we grow older, the gap gets bigger, largely due to the number of (competitive) matches we play. Most of us (as juniors in I-League) played 20 games a year, while Brazilians, or players from any other top nation, will easily feature in about 50, if not more. Those matches make a world of difference. Against Brazil (on Saturday), it will be a lot more difficult.”The clash against Brazil in 2016 was part of an understanding between BRICS nations during the Summit in Goa. India were preparing for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017, and given the surfeit of exposure tours, the youngsters didn’t seem overawed when up against the mighty Brazilians.“We were lucky to be part of that U-17 World Cup batch. We had a lot of exposure tours, played many friendlies abroad against good teams. I’ve always been a Brazil fan, so to see myself playing Brazil was a great experience. We got to learn a lot by just observing how they move, how they prepare. Seeing actually how good they were on the pitch was an eye-opener,” said Mohun Bagan’s influential midfielder.On Saturday, the challenge will be even bigger.Brazil are five-time world champions, now ranked fifth in the world. India are at 137, and even though Jamil’s side did well to hold World Cuppers Panama 1-1 in Bengaluru last week, the gulf in quality is too big to ignore.Apuia, though, isn’t losing sleep.“Facing Brazil is a huge challenge, an exciting one, but I am not the kind of player who will change the way I prepare for a match. I will just do what I do on other match days. I have told myself, ‘Brazil is a great team, their players are better than me; all that I can do is give my best and do whatever the coach wants us to do’.”A huge Barcelona fan, Apuia will miss sharing the pitch with Brazil captain Raphinha, who has returned to the club after picking up an injury. But there will be other stars, particularly Vinicius Jr, who scored against India U-16, joined Real Madrid from Flamengo and later transformed himself into one of the best.
