Although the Indian team did not taste too
much success in 2010, off the field, the year witnessed several key
developments which have the potential to change things for the
better.
The national team ended the year on an apprehensive note, as it
reels due to a series of defeats in international friendlies in the
run up to the 2011 Asian Cup - its first world level tournament in
24 years.
Any hopes Indian coach Bob Houghton may have entertained of
leading his band of courageous boys into the second round of the
Asian showpiece event came crashing down to earth as the men in blue
were drawn in a tough group alongside continental powerhouses South
Korea, Australia and Bahrain.
While the Koreans have the record of being the Asian nation with
highest number of qualifications for the World Cup, having played in
seven consecutive World Cup finals from 1986, making a total of
eight World Cup finals in all, the Australians have also qualified
for the World Cup twice (in 2006 and 2010). Bahrain on the other
hand, narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2010 World Cup,
losing out to New Zealand in the play-offs.
With a view to give the national team the best possible
preparation, Houghton took his boys for an exposure trip to Portugal
where the players got opportunities to train in world class
facilities and play against the second and third division clubs in
the Iberian country. This was the third time over the past four
years that Houghton and his boys travelled to Portugal.
For the first time in recent years, the Indian team played
friendly matches against higher ranked Asian teams like Iraq, Saudi
Arabia and Thailand.
However, the results on the field were not too encouraging. The
team registered mixed performance overall in their Portugal sojurn,
but it were the big defeats against high quality international
opposition that were most disappointing.
Before embarking on their final preparatory camp in Dubai in the
first week of November, the national team played a several
international friendlies with mixed results. They played well
against a strong Thailand side, going down 0-1 in Bangkok and 1-2 at
home at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. Although India narrowly
missed out on a win both games, the Thais were undoubtedly
technically superior.
The south-east Asians played nice, passing football that was quite
easy on the eye. The Indians, on the other hand, preferred the
British long ball tactic, firing in hopeful crosses into the box.
The Indians won against Namibia (2-0) and Vietnam (3-1) but it
was clear that they needed to vastly improve their game if they
wanted to give even a semblance of a fight to their Asian Cup
rivals.
Star goalkeeper Subroto Paul was one of the bright spots,
emerging as the savior of the team on many occasions. Central
defender Gourmangi Singh was like rock in the defence but his
partner Anwar seemed unfit and showed a distinct lack of speed in
most of the games. Right back Surkumar Singh was good in patches
and failed to go forward as much as he should have in the matches
against Thailand.
In the midfield, Mehrajuddin, Climax Lawrence and Anthony Pereira
played well with the Kashmiri proving to be a dangerous customer due
to his power-packed attempts from long range.
But the forwards have shown a worrying lack of finishing skills,
with veteran striker and skipper Bhaichung Bhutia the most potent
threat in their ranks. Sunil Chhetri, Mohammed Rafi and Abhishek
Yadav have struggled in front of the goal. Chhetri, despite his
hattrick against Vietnam, has seemed distinctly off-colour while
Yadav has not been impressive with his aerial ability inspite of his
impressive height.
After reaching Dubai, the Indians were made painfully aware of
the vast gulf in standards when they suffered a series of reverses
against West Asian opponents.
They started off well enough, battling to a 0-2 loss in their
match against Saudi Arabia. But then they were humiliated 1-9 by
Kuwait and were thrashed 0-5 by UAE.
The series of poor performances have attracted a lot of criticism
from several quarters and several former Indian team coaches and
players have even asserted that Houghton's track record after taking
over the national squad has been no better than previous incumbents.
The 63-year-old Englishman is expected to resign if the national
team fails to impress in Doha. However, given the tough group,
taking even a single point will surely be seen as a successful
campaign.
Injuries to key players have played havoc with the team's chances
as Anthony Pereira, Arindam Bhattacharya and Samir Naik were left
out of the Asian Cup squad due to injury. Bhutia is also nursing a
calf injury and faces a race against time in his bid to return to
fitness before the event starts on January 7.
The ever increasing casualty list is being seen as one of the
reasons behind the untimely resignation of Pradip Chowdhary as the
team manager after a spat with Houghton. With the players fully
backing their coach and refusing to accept the return of Chowdhary,
Raul Carmo Fernandes was appointed as the manager for Doha 2011.
Fernandes has been working with the national team on various
operational fronts for the last couple of years and more
specifically in the last two months during the camp in Dubai
The spirited displays of the Indian U-23 team at the Asian Games
also deserve a special mention. The young guns impressive in their
Asian Games campaign as they qualified for the knock out stage from
a tough group which contained defending champions Qatar, Kuwait and
Hong Kong.
The way this young team fought tooth and nail against Kuwait in
their opening encounter, speaks a lot about their potential. A
defensive lapse and a goalkeeping error had cost the match for
India, but the performance of the organised Indian midfield prompted
even the rival coach to shower praise on them.
In the second match against Qatar, the Indian boys' inexperience
was clearly evident, as despite leading till the 82th minute, they
conceded a couple of goals in last 10 minutes to eventually go down
1-2.
In the do or die encounter against Singapore in the third and
last group league match, the boys in blue produced a scintillating
performance and whipped their hapless rivals 4-1 to ensure a berth
in the knock-out stage as one of the four best 3rd-placed teams. The
young Indians did well to reach the knock-out stages of the Asian
Games after a gap of 28 years.
But the Indian campaign came to an end when they were
comprehensively outplayed by Japan in the pre-quarterfinals. Japan
proved to be a team from a different universe altogether, as they
thrashed the Indian colts by a 5-0 margin. The match also brought
into sharp focus Indian players' lack of technical expertise and
experience.
The performance of the Indian youngsters showed that Indian
football's future is in bright hands. The fighting spirit showed by
the youngsters - trait they share with the senior Indians team - is
a great attribute and if they are groomed properly, Indian football
can reach greater heights.
The talent of Indian footballers were recognised overseas as
several players were called-up by foreign clubs for selection
trials. Chettri managed to realise his American dream as he was
signed up by Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Kansas City
Wizards. But the diminutive striker has struggled to make the first
XI.
Subroto Paul and Gourmangi were also called up trial with foreign
clubs. Paul went for trials to newly promoted MLS team Vancouver
Whitecaps FC while Gourmangi had a two-week trial with top A-League
club Melbourne FC in Australia. However, both of them failed to
clinch a contract.
Off the field, there have been many positives for Indian
football, chief among which is the deal between the All India
Football Federation (AIFF) and IMG-Reliance which will see a
whopping Rs 700 crore being invested in the game over the next 15
years.
The agreement, the most lucrative deal in Indian sports
after the one between BCCI and Nimbus, has handed IMG Reliance
all commercial rights to football in the country, including
sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, film,
video and data, intellectual property, franchising and new
league rights.
IMG Reliance will also look after the branding and marketing
aspects related to the Indian team, domestic competitions and
participating teams.
They will also deal with scheduling, restructuring and
reformatting of domestic competitions apart from developing,
operating and administering a new professional football league
in the country.
Another bit of good news was that the AIFF managed to rope in a
sponsor for the Indian team jersey. Thanks to the three-year deal
which stated that India have to play at least six international
matches in a year, Bob Houghton's boys, as part of their
preparations for next month's Asian Cup, got opportunities to play
against some of the higher ranked teams in Asia.
The year also witnessed a change in guard at the helm of the
federation as Kushal Das succeeded Alberto Colaco as AIFF general
secretary. His appointment raised expectations and rekindled hope of
a better future of the game in the country.
Das, a former chief financial officer with International
Management Group (IMG) and the International Cricket Council
(ICC), is expected to bring in more professionalism into the
functioning of the AIFF.
In keeping with Houghton's vision of grooming youngsters for the
future, the federation also formed a I-League team of its own named
AIFF XI, a squad made up of U-19 footballers with the aim of testing
these youngsters and groom them for top international tournaments by
exposing them to the rigours of 26-match home and away league and
club them against some of the top sides in the country.
These boys will spearhead India's campaign at the qualifying
tournaments for the 2016 Olympics and the 2018 World Cup.
India which once ruled Asian football, has been in the doldrums
for the last couple of decades. It will take more than a mild push
to wake the 'sleeping giant of world football' as FIFA president
Sepp Blatter himself described it.
The Indian football scenario may not be too bright right now, but
at least it is taking steps in the right direction which will
hopefully reap rich dividends in the future.
