Indian football is riding a crest.
From a team that barely managed to win anything substantial until three years ago, it is now a formidable unit. The recent South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship triumph has just reinforced the consistency.
India have now marked their fourth straight tournament win and though Sukhwinder Singh was the coach in Dhaka, a lot of credit should be attributed to national coach Bob Houghton.
What stood out in the SAFF Championship win was the fact that a junior Indian team had managed to get the better of their South Asian rivals - all of them with full-strength senior teams.
To think that most of the players don’t even feature regularly in the playing 11 of their clubs, speaks volumes of India’s bench strength. Each I-League team has up to five foreign players in the squad and most of the remaining places are filled by the Indian senior team regulars. So someone like Sushil Kumar, who led the team in Dhaka, isn’t assured of a place in the starting 11 while playing for his club Mahindra United.
National team captain Baichung Bhutia pointed out that with more foreigners joining the I-League, youngsters aren’t getting the required exposure. “With five foreigners now in I-League, the youngsters don’t get a chance to prove themselves. When they play these international tournaments and win, it is a big boost for them,” the East Bengal striker told DNA.
Bhutia also said that India’s consistency under Houghton has changed the attitude of the players and public towards football. “It is a brave step taken by Bob. He has a long-term plan which he is sticking to and the opportunities that the juniors are getting will be beneficial for us,” Bhutia said.
“Consistency has been the key. We have started winning more matches in the past few years. In my entire career we never had a fixed team. Every national camp and tournament had a different set of players. Under Bob the entire team has been together for a long time and that is paying rich dividends,” said the 33-year-old striker.
His India teammate and goalkeeper Subrata Pal, too, sounded optimistic. “Before this we never dreamt of fielding a junior side for an international tournament. But the fact that they have won speaks a lot of our bench strength,” Pal, who was the hero in India’s Nehru Cup triumph, said.
Though the importance of playing more matches against tougher opponents will be the key if India are to do well in the Asian Cup, Bhutia said playing matches away from home will be imperative. “The next year is very crucial. The Asia Cup is in early 2011 and preparation-wise, 2010 is important. But we are excited and the junior team result has motivated us even more,” Bhutia said.
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