“One of the best results of my tenure”, Khalid Jamil responds after India’s iconic fight against Panama

Kolkata : Indian fans witnessed one of the iconic matches as India drew 1-1 against Panama at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on Friday, one of the highlight under Khalid Jamil as head coach.

Facing ranked 94 Panama, India showed fighting spirits and coming near to the goal post several times , threatening the World Cuppers – a rare sight for Indian football fans.

Ryan Williams put the Blue Tigers in the lead after receiving a long pass from Akash Mishra in first half. Omar Valencia in 2nd half delivered an unexpected long short that went past clueless Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to equalize the game for Panama. The match could have ended in India’s favour but Manvir and Edmund missed open chances as India went back with 1-1 draw. This bold fight with Jamil’s tactics won appreciation from fans.

Jamil however credited all to players and need for support.

“All the credit goes to the players; they work very hard,” Jamil was quick to note, adding that “They have their belief (now); we must continue like that. They are very mature. They only need support, and we must provide it.”

Jamil stated that this match was one of the best games in his tenure. He took up Indian coaching role in August 2025 but didn’t find much success, apart from win over Tajikistan in his debut game which was also India’s first win against the side after 17 years, in CAFA Nations Cup. This surely could be the highlight of his career.

“Yes, you can say like this, it was the best match in my tenure. I think because of the support of the fans, the support of the team, the positivity, that is amazing. We are looking forward to repeating this result again,” said Khalid Jamil.

Ryan Williams emphasizing the value of “togetherness” in the team said, “We have a really good group here, and you can see that on the pitch. I don’t think there was one player there who didn’t give everything on the pitch,” he said.

“Before the game, we all believed in each other. We knew what our best attributes are. What we tried to focus on was each individual action. Not the whole 90 minutes, but each individual action,” he explained.

India’s strong run came due to Jamil’s plans to spread players in midfield and do most of the running down the sides instead of the fullbacks who defended well in most of the game against Panama force. This made Panama depend on long shorts.

Williams pointed out that one of the key attributes was his timely run and Manvir’s role in pulling defenders out, a part which they worked while training.

“One of my attributes is timing the run. But I can’t score that goal without Manvir coming short and pulling that defender out. We did work on certain things in training, and that was one of them. We were really happy with how we took the ball back to front,” Williams noted.

Another key point of the camp was everyone being happy, free and high spirited ahead of the clash, as Williams stated.

“It’s been a really good camp in terms of everyone being very free, very happy, and very high-spirited. So all we need to do is maintain that when the camps keep coming. And I think we’re definitely on the right path,” he added.

Williams, who became close to Indians playing for Bengaluru FC in ISL gave up his Australian citizenship to play for India despite their low rankings. But the way Indian Footballers welcome him in the camp despite he being “outsider”, is one of the thing that makes Williams to love joining the Indian camp.

“I love coming to camp with all these boys. You know, they make me feel so welcome. They could have easily kind of excluded me and things because, possibly, I’m an outsider. But they’ve been amazing with me. They have backed me up in every game I’ve played in,” Williams revealed.

Despite the spirited display against Panama, Jamil cautioned that there are more aspects to be looked at, especially with Brazil and Uruguay coming up. “Even though the performance was good (against Panama), there was a lack of concentration in the second half,” Jamil said.

“But for now, everyone is enjoying the practice and being together. There is no negativity at all. And that is a plus point,” he concluded.

India will next face former World champions Brazil and Uruguay at Kolkata on October 3 and 6 respectively. The Blue Tigers are well determined and gained boost in confidence ahead of the 2 iconic friendlies.