international football

[punekar]

FIFA world cup for women is on and there is no TV coverage in India!!! Whats going on?

[jaydeep]

Impressive possession football game by this u11 FC Barcelona side against Arsenal FC.

Cal South State Cup Semifinal between Barcelona and Arsenal FC

[il_fenomeno]

Who is Harmeet Singh: Profiling the youngster of Indian origin who has just joined Dutch giants Feyenoord

He is in Top-100 list of most talented football players in the world. And his nickname is "The Norwegian Iniesta". Although he already played 3 games for the norway A-national team he could still change the national team I think because all three games were just friendly games. But unless AIFF doesnt change their handling with PIOs this is just hypothetic.

Best of Harmeet Singh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95i-c5Vki8Q&pxtry=1

[Prashant]

Although he already played 3 games for the norway A-national team he could still change the national team I think because all three games were just friendly games.

I don't think this is accurate. I believe the rule is that once you have any senior cap, even a friendly, you can't switch nationalities. You can switch if you have only played juniors.

[il_fenomeno]

Maybe you know the case of Jermaine Jones? He played several friendly games for Germany but at the end he played for the US-Team.

Wikepedia says:

Unless geopolitical changes play a role, players are generally not allowed to switch nationalities if they have made senior appearances for one FIFA-recognised country in competitive fixtures. One exception is Thiago Motta, who has caps for Brazil in competitive fixtures but in 2011 received special permission from FIFA to represent Italy.[22] Friendly match appearances do not commit a player to one country (though a player is usually able to switch to another national side only if he held the nationality of the second country at the time he represented his first choice national team

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eligi ... rn_changes

[il_fenomeno]

Feyenoord Rotterdam player Harmeet Singh:

"If India want me to play for them, then it would be no problem for me to sit down with them and discuss it. There has never been an approach, and I don't even know whether I could play for them because I don't have an Indian passport. I have the life-long visa, but not a passport.

"I'm really curious about the options, though. I haven't closed the door on India. If they really want me, then it's no problem for me to have a conversation with them to see what they want and to get to know a bit more about Indian football."

'India is really close to my heart' - Feyenoord new boy Harmeet Singh wants to inspire a generation of footballers

[Sin Hombre]

I am all for adopting every half-decent PIO who wants to play for India.

Football is already by some margin the second most watched/followed sport in India, and if we can at least start consistently reaching the Asia Cup and perform well there, the money and the young talent pool will grow exponentially.

[wrestlinglife]

I would go to every person of Indian-origin in colleges and clubs and ask them if they'd like to try-out. If we can get a DECENT team, crows participation will follow. NRIs have a lot to gain--in France they may be an 'average' player; in India, they will be a hero with endorsement deals and TV gigs flying left and right at them. More than a coach we need a resourceful individual. Hire some NCAA scouts, for example. They may not know India but they know how to look around the world for talent.

[jayakris]

I would absolutely agree. But the problem is that they will have to change citizenship to India under our current laws. I am not sure many would do that. Jay

[wrestlinglife]

Oh, yes. I hope BJP comes in power soon if for no other reason than their pro-NRI stance. Dual citizenship would be lovely.

[munnabhai]

I think an another idea would be to fund talented underprivileged soccer players to the US colleges and let them play for 4 years in the NCAA. They will grow mentally, physically and come back much more developed to play for the country. If they are really good, they can play in the MLS and play for India when required.

It would be cool to see PIOs playing for India, but I think the AIFF has too much pride to let that happen.

[Sin Hombre]

MLS football won't suit our kids at all.

We should enter into some kind of agreement with poor Spanish clubs like Valencia, and allow them to cherry pick the top kids and train them from the age of 11-12 onwards.


The first step though has to be getting the top PIOs on board the national team.

[Atithee]

The first step in any Indian sport has to be the willingness of the administrators to focus on administration and let the coaches/staff have some authority. I am afraid the the PIOs will be pitchforked into an undisciplined regime with no regard for policies. They will get frustrated and leave town the next day. What is also likely is that these same PIOs who are used to the military like coaching, will questions every move, even good ones, if they are not to their liking. Just more reason I am not hopeful about PIOs. Plus, these folks will not really live in India and that is more trouble in a team sport.

That's why sending our kids to train elsewhere in batches is more likely to succeed. On domestic front, the only way to get better is to cut down the number of teams to make every game more meaningful so quality counts and stands out. If stronger teams won't play us, just play the weaker teams until you get so good that you beat the crap out of them and then the stronger teams will take notice and want to play you. It doesn't matter if we lose to weaker teams. Who cares if we are ranked 120 or 220 if the long term goal is to become top 50 or so?

[il_fenomeno]

Some good news for indian football to forget the defeat against singapore :

Teenager Brandon Fernandes is heading to a Premier League club for two weeks

He undergoes a 2 week trial at EPL Club Reading FC. Good luck Brandon!

Indian football needs more Siddharth Kushwahas

A young indian talent who got a contract for a third 3rd Division team in Spain.

[il_fenomeno]

U21 nationalplayer of Norway Harmeet Singh, who plays for Feyenord Rotterdam, still thinking about playing for the Indian National Team.

The original article is in norwegian. Here is a translation:
http://translate.google.de/translate?hl ... /24644275/