international football

General Discussion on Indian Football.

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Garin
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international football

Post by Garin »

Hi there

We expect India to win the SAFF cup. With all due respect to Bangladesh, Pakistan and the other teams, India is the best team.

My question is whether the team really gets to progress from beating these types of opposition. Ok there is the Asian Cup qualifiers in 2003 as well but if India is going to make it to a World Cup or even come close to qualifying, they need to vary the opposition they play much more. I know it is not easy at all to get African teams over to Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta or Goa but the AIFF needs to plan some tournaments inviting opposition over that India can have a decent contest with. How about E. Africa teams like Kenya, Tanzania or Zambia? They have big potential and play a different style which may or may not be better than our football but they don't have :roll: professional leagues like in India.

Something has to be done by the AIFF to generate more interest in the Indian team at home. 2003 could be a decisive year when football supporters want to see some substantial progress. Constantine is working hard to improve the team but is he getting the support that a coach needs to improve a side? The AIFF must realise there is no point in playing teams who will comprehensively beat us by 6,7 or 8 goals or who we will beat by the same scores.
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Dhruv
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Re: international football

Post by Dhruv »

Garin wrote: We expect India to win the SAFF cup. With all due respect to Bangladesh, Pakistan and the other teams, India is the best team.

My question is whether the team really gets to progress from beating these types of opposition.
I agree. If you look at the AFC regions rankings post India is way ahead of any of the other teams. They need to play more international matches against better quality opposition to
A) Get experience against better teams
B) Improve rankings further to allow to compete with better teams

The reason is the way that FIFA rankings work you actually get penalised if you lose to a weaker team. Ofcourse I still haven't been able to work out exactly how the system works :)

Playing agianst European teams does you no good but maybe something like the Tiger Cup in 2003. I know it is the ASEAN tourney but something similar in competition level would be a nice start. Maybe as suggested by Garin some East African teams as well. Hopefully we get some sort of action by the AIFF. Thankfully they can still host international games in India.
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by arunava »

Good ideas guys but the AIFF is banned from organising any international tournaments in the year 2003, if you haven't, there is a report on this online at indianfootball.com.

India take part in the SAFF Cup, as India is part of south Asia.
Asia has been divided into regions by the Asian Football Confederation, so India could not take part in the Tiger Cup (ASEAN CUP), which is the equivalent of the SAFF Cup in southeast India.

So India will be playing in the SAFF Cup, as long as the tournament exists.
Without this tournament, sometimes India wouldn't have any exposure at all...

The next step will be to become a regular participant in tournaments like the LG Cup in Vietnam, the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia and others across Asia.
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Dhruv
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Dhruv »

Hi Arunava,

I thought that only AIFF bodies were banned and not the AIFF.
INDIAN FOOTBALL SITE DEC 24th Note 1 wrote: India and the AIFF are lucky to get away with an AFC ban of smaller magnitude than feared earlier...
In an apparent dilution of its ban on India hosting international events slapped a fortnight ago, the Asian Football C onfederation today said the ban was applicable only for tournaments organised by the AIFFs affiliated units like IFA. The clarification has left the AIFF, which had vehemently protested the ban decision, unaffected and the game's governing body in the country was now free to stage international tournaments. Responding to a letter from AIFF seeking more clarifications regarding the suspension, the AFC sought to clear the ambiguity by stating that "the ban does not apply to age group tournaments as well as tournaments of AFC and FIFA and organised by AIFF". "The ban only applies to international tournaments organised by affiliate units of AIFF," the AFC's general secretary Peter Velappan said in the letter. The AFC had slapped a one-year ban on India hosting any international tournaments on December 11 after it failed to provide a report on the violence-marred IFA-Shield final between East Bengal and Brazilians Palmeiras in Calcutta. The decision was taken by the AFCs Executive Committee which was "seriously upset" that Indian officials had not sent the report on the fracas in Calcutta.
Worst hit by the decision will be the IFA, who for the IFA-Shield in January wanted to bring in two foreign team, which is now impossible.
Am I misreading this or was their an update on this since then.
Thanks
Last edited by Dhruv on Sat Nov 01, 2003 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PLaying Better competition

Post by amr090 »

Yes, playing better competition is definitely the way to go. What I do not understand is why the AIFF has been so lax in getting exposures to our players. Living in the United States I see the US governing body scheduling friendlies all the time with other countries. The AIFF claims they want to see football improve but just talking about it doesnt help. Even if they cant organize tournaments, cant the organize friendly matches with teams ranked maybe 20-30 spots above Indias ranking maybe 3-4 a year at the least? This way not only does India get exposure to higher competition but it also brings the national team together as a whole so that they can play more together. There is no way you can produce a good team when you only meat 2 or 3 times a yeard for qulifiers or tournaments. There must be more friendlies organized!
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Dhruv »

I split this topic as I thought it deserved a separate heading for itself.
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by bhutia »

Is the Indian team interested in touring US/Canada this summer? This tour could be a good one...
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How to improve Indian football?

Post by BSharma »

How to improve Indian football?

These are just my thoughts - they may or may not be practical for India.

I can think of two models to improve Indian football team.

Model # 1: Follow the lead of South Korean hockey team. South Korea took about 200 men who they felt could become good hockey players and worked with them around the year. They got top level coaches, physical therapists, psychologists, etc and chose the best from these 200 players to form the Korean team. The South Korean team played teams from other countries to improve their skills and now are one of the best in the world. Field hockey is not a popular sport in South Korea but they have a great team.

Model #2: Follow the lead of the American baseball system. Instead of having only a National Football League in India let the football teams in India have "farm teams" or AAA, AA and A football leagues where the NFL teams can develop young players. We need to get proper coaching, physical conditioning, proper medical help for injuries, etc at a young age of the players. I am sure that the British coach of the Indian team had to reteach a lot of skills to the Indian team players. If we can take 16 to 18 year old players and make them play in the single "A" football league and as their skills improve with proper coaching then move them up the ladder to the NFL league. These teams at A, AA, or AAA levels should have proper coaches, etc furnished by the NFL teams just like the American baseball system.

As the standard of the Indian football players improve they should play in the European leagues. Hence the incentive to a promosing 16-18 year old player is that if he can take advantage of the system he can one day play in the European league and make a lot of money and earn glory. Under the current system none of the Indian players have a chance to make it to the European league (Bhutia excluded).

How do you pay for the second model? Let the teams be owned by industrialists, corporations, NRIs, etc. and the Indian government can give tax breaks for sponsoring the teams.
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Dhruv »

Going through some of Arunava's reports, one from on the 13th January
IndianFootball.com wrote: Tata Football Academy coach Ranjan Chowdhury informed the press in Calcutta that TFA would take part in the 2.Division National League this season, so that the TFA boys get experience in the big league. Also Chowdhury informed that former India captain Carlton Chapman has joined TFA as a coach.
This is a very good move in my opinion as I think that the TFA is probably the best developer of talent in India. The only unfortunate part about it is that is in Bihar. :devil: Anyway, I think if the TFA uses one of it's coaches and senior team to play in the National League, it should increase the capabilities of these players and also help the national league clubs scout them better as well as Stephen Constantine.

What would also help is if they used their senior team in the 2nd division, ,though I have a strong feeling that they will probably qualify for the first division :wink: given the level they play at most of the domestic tourneys, they can/should start recruiting players at a younger ager 12 rather than the 14 yrs that they do as one batch of players would be on the riad a lot of the time. currently(correct me if am wrong). Any opinions on if it is good bad or ugly and how they will do in the national league 2nd div.
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How to improve Indian Football

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Bump
Jacknut
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Jacknut »

bhutia wrote:Is the Indian team interested in touring US/Canada this summer? This tour could be a good one...
I would love to see a India-USA match. Of course, I'd be rooting for the USA (seeing as I'm the head of a supporters club), but I'd probably carry a small Indian flag as well.
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by sunnyd »

I was just wondering if the Football Authorities know of this website and read the suggestions on this site on how to improve Indian football. I think you guys who run this site should send them a list of the many good suggestions on this forum to the Indian FA for consideration (if you haven't already done so).
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Jacknut »

sunnyd wrote:I was just wondering if the Football Authorities know of this website and read the suggestions on this site on how to improve Indian football. I think you guys who run this site should send them a list of the many good suggestions on this forum to the Indian FA for consideration (if you haven't already done so).
Honestly, I would hope they have better things to do than read the ramblings of a few nutters like ourselves. Then again, maybe they don't.
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How to improve Indian Football

Post by jayakris »

Yeah, they don't. They should read Indianfootball.com and this associated forum for sure. We ARE the most knowledgable Indian fans out there, undoubtedly...

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How to improve Indian Football

Post by Jacknut »

That scares me then, because I couldn't name a single Indian player outside of Bhatia or Vijayan. Then again, I only became interested in Indian soccer because the USA isn't playing at the moment.
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