Houghton disappointed

For India football coach Bob Houghton, putting the team through drills at home is like facing reality after a good dream. “Practising here is not a disadvantage but a disappointment,” said Houghton as the squad re-grouped here in preparation for the five-nation Nehru Cup tournament after returning home last week from a tour of Dubai and Spain.

“After playing on those grounds in Barcelona, conditions here are disappointing. But we still have to get on with the game and we are motivated and focused enough to do well in the Nehru Cup,” said the Briton.

The camp is being held at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium and will move to a college ground in New Delhi after a few days.

Houghton, who has criticised practice facilities in India in the past too, re-iterated that the game needed a big push if one has to hope for any improvement. He was also not too optimistic of seeing a well manicured turf at the Ambedkar Stadium, where the tournament will be held from August 19 to 30.

“You don’t get to see good matches on bad grounds. I doubt if even the likes of Diego Maradona and Michel Platini would be able to perform on such grounds, especially with the temperature over 40 degrees,” said Houghton.

The Nehru Cup tournament no longer has Palestine in the fray but Houghton is not disappointed with that. “Five teams make it a round-robin league and an assured four games, which is better than the two each every team would have been assured of in the six-team league format,” said Houghton, who was not too concerned about the team composition despite Sunil Chhetri’s ankle injury.

“It looks unlikely that he will be able to play but he is the one who is going to decide in the end because he has a long career ahead and we don’t want to take chances. We are calling Subhash Singh for the camp, but there are other options too for us,” he added.

India won the last edition of the Nehru Cup tournament in 2007, when they had the better of Syria in the final.