Missing Asian Cup will be disaster: Bhaichung Bhutia

Despite being highly doubtful to feature in the Asian Cup, Bhaichung Bhutia has been named as captain of the 23-man Indian squad released by the All India Football Federation for the continental championship to be held in Doha, Qatar, from January 7.

Bhutia’s injury will be the biggest concern for coach Bob Houghton but he will be taking some solace from the fact that the rest of his injured players are fit. The Indian camp in Dubai has been plagued with injuries to several key players, but Bhutia confirmed to DNA that all of them, barring him, have recovered and are fit to play in the Asian Cup.

“The biggest concern for us over the last two months has been the injuries. Most of our first-choice players have had fitness issues but thankfully, they all have recovered just in time. I assure you, the 22 players from this squad are fully fit. Only I have not managed to get in shape but I hope to be fine soon,” Bhutia said on Monday.

He added that his strike-partner Sunil Chhetri has been training with the side for the last two days, while Steven Dias has been in action for the last one week. He, however, wasn’t confident over his fitness. “Things with me are still the same. My doctor will be here on December 29 and then for one week, I will be working hard to get in shape,” said the skipper, adding, “It will be disastrous for me if I cannot get fit in time. I have been waiting for my whole career for a stage like this to perform. To miss it will be a big disappointment.”

Interestingly, Houghton has chosen to leave out former Mahindra United striker Mohammad Rafi. Rafi was among the top scorers in the I-League last season, and was expected to make the cut. His place was taken by his teammate at Mahindra, Sushil Kumar Singh. Sushil, one has to note, struggled last season for Mahindra and wasn’t a regular starter. Nallappan Mohanraj, midfielders James Lukram Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Baljit Singh Sahni are other players who were left out by Houghton.

Bhutia said Rafi has a few niggles and will be kept as a stand-by. “He will train with the team and if he gets fit in time, he can be replaced,” he informed.

Others who failed to make the cut due to injuries are goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya, defender Samir Naik and winger Anthony Pereira. Arindam has been replaced by young Gurpreet Singh Sandhu after East Bengal refused to release seasoned ‘keeper Sandip Nandy.

In another surprising move, Raul Fernandes, the organiser of the training camp in Dubai, has been named as manager for the Asian Cup, replacing Pradeep Chowdhury who left the team after a tiff with Houghton. “The whole (manager) issue was really unnecessary. But we are really happy that Raul has been chosen as the manager,” Bhutia said.

The team will leave for Doha on January 6, and will take on Australia in the opener on January 10 followed by Bahrain on January 14 and South Korea on January 18.

Squad
Goalkeepers: Subrata Pal, Subhashish Roy Choudhury, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Defenders: Surkumar Singh, Gouramangi Singh, Anwar, Mahesh Gawli, Syed Rahim Nabi, Deepak Mondal, NS Manju, Rakesh Masih, Govin Singh
Midfielders: Steven Dias, NP Pradeep, Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda, Renedy Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Baldeep Singh
Strikers: Bhaichung Bhutia (Capt.), Sunil Chhetri, Abhishek Yadav, Sushil Kumar Singh.
Coach: Bob Houghton