Football: Indian National Team news ...

[murlikt]

I know this is out of place with the World cup happening but anyway just an update of the India team, basically our new coach Bob Houghton is arriving in Goa on 19th:
http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php ... _ID=061737

Isnt it funny how everyone the AIFF looks at for assistant coach has rejected them? They are willing to work at a club level than work with the AIFF, I don't blame them they will pay him peanuts.

Also other news:

Michael Chopra just signed for Cardiff City in the division one (one less than premier league). It is a drop down but hopefully he can play some games and score:
Link
One great thing that has come from Chopra's move is Cardiff will play against INDIA in Vancouver for the tournament in July so if Chopra travels well what better way for Bob Houghton and AIFF to talk to him.

Bad news is Vijay Sidhu, Rikki Bains, Inderjeet Aujla all released from their clubs in England so whether they find a new club god knows. I cant understand if Pakistan can organise their overseas players to come to that country why the AIFF cannot make contact and get these players to India for training? First see them and then look at passports etc.

[amr090]

Its been pretty much a unanimous agreement that AIFF is hopeless. Das Munshi gets away being probably the worst head of all indian sports heads, because no one simply seems to care.

He just recently made a comment stating India will try to qualify for the 2010 world cup and if not that 2014. I don't know if he even watches any of these matches that India has played. I'm hoping the Houghton hiring is at least a good one and he can do something for India.

Another thing no one seems to have mentioned is that Bhutia has now said he is quitting international football. Another huge blow for India as he is one of the few players even close to world class for India. One can only hope he changes his mind.

[puneets]

Here's an interview with India's new coach

http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php ... _ID=062146

[amr090]

thanks puneets he seems like a good guy. the problem to me has never been the coach. constantine was doing work, the problem has always been the inefficiency of the AIFF, and the lack of demand from the public to field a good team

unless that changes, i dont know how much houghton can do by himself.

[nnipp]

The national team is training for a small tournament in Vancouver next month that will include a couple club teams and the China U20 squad.

First Impression from new coach Bob Houghton:

http://www.soccernetindia.com/modules.p ... e&sid=2728

“I like the players’ attitude and the boys are quite disciplined and willing to learn enthusiastically,” Bob said while talking to pressmen after the training session.
The Englishman, however, observed that he had found that the national squad was a bit “small” (in height) to his liking. “It is not something negative I am pointing at but I feel that the players are a bit short. I found that only a couple of players are in excess of 180 cms as height is an important component of a team’s defence,” Bob added. Making an important remark, the coach also stated that he had gone through the recent statistics of Indian players which revealed that the average height over the years had declined from 176 to 173 centimetres, which was a bit surprising.

[amr090]

yeah i was about to post the same thing...at least this guy realizes our players at least need to have worldclass height speed and athleticism to have a chance.

[puneets]

A nice article on "Bihar's football crazy girls".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5094308.stm

[amr090]

interview with bob houghton...he seems to have his priorities straight...also he seems to realize that the current members of the team are short and not well built and wants to inject athleticism speed and size

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsAr ... 8137-1.xml

[jayakris]

Arun - you are putting words into his mouth. He didn't say anything about height, athleticism, speed or size. He simply said bringing players of Indian origin would help to raise the level but that we need start a long-term program with a younger squad.

Jay

[PKBasu]

I like Houghton's attitude, and his focus on getting expatriate Indians to play for the country to help the standard of the game in India. If Germany can have three Poles in their starting lineup (Klose, Podolski, Borowski), France can be a rainbow coalition of ethnicities with tenuous links to French (colonial) history, and Japan can have the Brazilian Alex (albeit of distant Japanese descent from Brazil's gritty suburbs) in their team, there is no reason why PIOs shouldn't be playing for India.

[amr090]

Arun - you are putting words into his mouth. He didn't say anything about height, athleticism, speed or size. He simply said bringing players of Indian origin would help to raise the level but that we need start a long-term program with a younger squad.

Jay

no im not...sorry i read another article where he said exactly that, but didnt put the link up...in fact that is the reason he has promoted striker sushil singh from the under 20 squad because the guy is supposed to be well built athletic and skilled....

here is the article:

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstor ... sid=190969

[jayakris]

No Arun -- that article ALSO does not say that Houghton said anything about it .. It is somebody else saying that he feels that way.

A bit of irresponsible reporting by Indian Express -- "It has been learnt that the experienced British coach has even vented his frustration in front of his coaching staff over the short height and poor physique of most of the senior probables." Looks fishy to me. They write these kinds of things normally when they want to cause trouble, or when one of the parties who want to cause trouble makes use of the press.

I am very disappointed in this news. The coach shouldn't be saying or even acting out that way, if he did. If he didn't, and somebody is trying to cause trouble, that is bad too. Either way, I am sad.

He himself is going to travel around to find football probables? .. I am sorry, I don't think he has any idea what he is setting off to do.

Count me among people who was not all that sold on this hire to start with (hope he works out though!), and one who is also concerned now.

Jay

[jayakris]

Arun -- sorry, actually nnip had posted a link above (that I somehow hadn't seen earlier), with a direct quote from Houghton on the height matter. But note that he said it somewhat differently and in a rather nice way. "height is an important component of a team’s defence", is also something said.

Basically I was complaining because I do not like our national coach making a blanket statement on height as the end-all of his analysis (seems like he didn't). I personally do not like simplistic answers/analysis on these things - and focusing on height as our primary problem would be a big mistake in my view. Of course we could use a few taller players in some positions, but we should also be doing a lot more with shorter players too, but we do not find the talented short ones, nor do we coach/train them properly. Houghton looks realistic in his comments to Navhind Times above.

5 ft 6 inch Maradona types can still play this game, but one needs to find them first. If you are short AND unfit AND not greatly talented, you will only have the current caliber of a team.

Jay

[amr090]

Sure height isn't everything but as you said height in certain positions can be very important. having a 6'3 defender in the middle can be very very useful. i personally agree with Houghton's assessment and I am assuming he really did voice those things that assistant coach stated. Obviously when he speaks to the media he wouldnt want to demean the players publicly and try to be politically correct. but what the assistant coach seems to have reported to the paper seems to have been private discussion and frustration.

With India's current talent level, you at least need players who can play physically. We don't seem to have an Maradona's at the moment, so at least if we can find a few players who are well built and have athelticism it may help.

I do hope he goes around the country looking for players because when they aren't holding camps or training for a tournament he will not have much to do. Since he seems to know what kind of world class talent and size you need to succeed he should travel around to soccer hot spots like Goa, Kolkata etc and check out local leagues and see if he can find a few hidden gems.

[puneets]

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060707/1/8mub.html

India falls in love with football - By Stephen Constantine