Malaysia vs India in Olympic qualifier - Video

India Vs Argentina in Nehru Gold Cup - Video 

I found this amazing video in you tube. Hope you will like it. 

The sleeping Giant? 

The Indian national football team slipped to 165^th spot in the latest FIFA ranking. This is the worst ever ranking for blue tigers. As usual media and a certain group of former players expressed their concern over it and criticizing the federation. But I think this is the right spot what we deserve. We are no more a “sleeping giant” as describe by Sepp Blatter, actually we are a dead giant. The media and the certain group of former players criticized Bob Houghton’s vision for Indian football and his long ball theory for all the time. Actually during Bob’s tenure we were moving towards a direction honestly to a positive direction. Let’s have a look what we had achieved with Bob and what went wrong.

When Bob came here the national team was a mess, simply a mess. We lost Asia Cup qualifier to Yemen and captain of the national team decided to hung up his boot. Yes I am talking about Bhaichung Bhutia the legend of Indian football. Any significant youth progress was also missing. There was everything but motivation. AIFF decided to kick out Syan Nymuddin and they appointed Bob Houghton as the national football team coach. His first activity was to call Bhaichung back to the national squad. Bhaichung always has been an inspiration for national football team and the football loving people of this cricket loving country.

The first match I have watched under Bob’s tenure was India vs Soudi Arabia at Salt Lake Stadium. India lost the game three goals to nil but the game was almost evenly contested. The midfield was constructed with Venkatesh the most gifted central midfielder I have ever seen in India and in form Mehrajuddin wadoo. Bhaichung was paired by Manjit Sing and it was discovered after the match that Manjit Sing was actually without any club for that season. India had significant ball possession and got two three scoring opportunity which was wasted by Manjit. In the 90^th minute Bhaichung got a ball inside the six yard box and hit the upright. Why I am giving so details of that particular match? Because after a long time it was looking like India is playing football. After the match Bob Houghton addressed the press that “You know you cannot defend your goal for the entire 90 minutes. You have to have the possession and need to attack”. I was amazed as whenever we played any heavy weight opponent we always tried to defend and defend. The first impression was amazing.

Shortly after that match India took part in a tournament in Canada and that time Cardiff city was having a pre season tour. Bob then approached Michael Chopra to play for India, may be the first official and significant approach to him however Michael Chopra was still had hope to represent England senior team and declined.

Then we won Nehru cup for the first time, people say it was not that prestigious Nehru cup once it used to be with teams like Argentina, Uruguay but the important thing was the confidence and motivation level of the boys. Bob Houghton was always vocal about the accommodation and training facilities provided by federation. Suddenly there was a change, players started to stay at five star hotels and federation started arranging training camps in Dubai, Portugal and Barcelona. Indian boys started having a feel of world level.

We lost the SAFF Cup final and won the SAFF games with a young team without any senior players. Bob slowly started injecting fresh blood into the national squad. Steven Dias, Arindam Bhatterjee, Rakesh Massi, Mohd Rafi, Rahim Nabi was ready with raw talent. He then advised federation to build a new team for young and talented players who are a regular for under21’ national team but unable to find their place to foreigner and experience players in club level. To give them much needed match practice federation launched their own club as a part of youth development programme initially named as AIFF XI.

Then came the biggest moment for Indian football, India won the AFC challenge cup and qualified for the Asia Cup after almost three decades. India was drawn to a tough group with mighty South Korea, Australia and Bahrain. India played with their heart and scored three goals which is a record in Aisa cup for Indian national team. But a portion of media and a part of crowd who became football lover almost overnight could not tolerate the result, don’t know what actually they expected a surprise win over Australia or Korea? Many people or reports say that the Asia cup was the last tournament for Bob Houghton as the national coach. It was AFC challenge cup qualifier which India won with a whole new squad with young and fresh faces actually was the last tournament for Bob as the national coach. Then he resigned and it was accepted by AIFF.

Now lets have a look what went wrong or what more we could have achieved with Bob. One thing I must say there was always same group of players represented the country during his tenure. He ignored top performers in I league several times. His logic was few people perform well in domestic league but they are not fit for international level. But under any circumstances Mehrahudiin wadoo cannot be selected by ignoring Mehtab Hussain or Gurpreet sing sandhu’s selection as third goalkeeper over Karanjit Sing is never justified.

His selection of opponents during training camps in Europe was another negative point as per me. India always played practice matches with third tier teams of Europe which as per Bob was a part of plan which was to gain confidence and to avoid heavy defeat by first class opponents which could demoralize Blue tigers. Agreed Bob, but we could have played with atleast similar opponents from Asia or Africa like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia or Gabon. We actually started playing with them when Asia cup was very near and our team was full with injuries. Those heavy defeats were actually created lot of buzz back in home and people lost hope and expectation. The selection of opponents could have been much much better.

Thirdly getting involved with media, referees and clubs was not a wise decision. Everyone started dislike Bob Houghton for many issues. Bob Houghton had that personality to make federation listen. But why should clubs will listen to you Bob when they don’t even listen to AFC or FIFA? There was an allegation of resist comments against Bob Houghton by FIFA referee Dinesh Nair. The incident was true or false was not important the important issue was a national coach should not get involved in this kind of situation particularly in this very sensitive country.

Today why I am talking so much about Bob Houghton when he is no more with our national team or there is no sign of re association? Because I am scared that we may have to wait for another 27-30 years to qualify for any top tier tournament. May be someone from Europe or America will come to coach our side. Then we will become old and will say “Who is he? Who are these people? Have you seen Bob and his boys? You are no match to them” like they say about Ciric Milovan. 

Recalling a very special derby

I was searching videos of Indian football in YouTube; suddenly I discovered a fool length football match is available in the web. The match was neither an ordinary one nor another East – Mohun derby, it was the famous fed cup semifinal between the two greatest arch rivals where a boy from north east announced his supremacy in Indian football.

I can still recall that very particular day; all the news papers were full with PK – Amal Dutta vocal combat. Amal Dutta particularly was commenting over and over on East Bengal team. After a long time the YBK was going to be full crowd. The match was live on STAR sports. Both the team was running like a well oiled machine before the derby clash.

Amal Dutta started the season with a new style with lot of talented players. He called it diamond formation which was a whole new thing for Indian football fans however the formation was well-known to European football clubs. The formation proven very effective as Mohunbagan was playing with a rhythm and getting the right results whereas experienced PK kept faith on a familiar 4-4-2. So there was a high expectation among all. The media & expert predictions were with Mohunbagan.

It was a fine Sunday afternoon and the season was rainy. The salt lake stadium was full at its capacity of 1 l 20k spectators which is still a world record. The game started with high volt. Mohunagan started pressing to East – Bengal half with their smooth passing play. It was nice to see their passing and ball possession. If one of the reasons of their good looking football was Dutta’s diamond formation another was the pool of talented midfielders playing together for Mohunbagan. The young Amit Das was testing left back Amitava Chanda for each occasion whereas Basudev Mondal and Satyajit Chatterjee were anchoring the central midfield with Lorendra Sing the fresh TFA cadet on the left. The forward line was ornamented with the mighty Chima Okery and speedy Abdul Khalek.

East Bengal team started very cautiously. They let Mohun Bagan took over the midfield and played a wait and watch game. The experienced Samy Omello was leading the defense line with calm and confident Naushad Musah. The midfield was mostly chasing and blocking the nippy Mohunbagan midfield but there was Shankarlal Chakraverty the raw talent and a fresh graduate from TFA with vastly experienced Tushar Rakshit who giving some tough times to Mohunbagan medios. And there was Baichung Bhutia upfront with Nazimul Haq who was just waiting for the right ball and right time.

Against the run of play Nazimul drew the first blood with a thundering side volley and Mohunbagan defense started shaking. Shortly after the change of the sides from a Somtai Saiza corner Baichung scored with a lovely header. Mohunbagan players started losing their confidence and changed the style of play with long ball mostly aimed towards Chima Okeri. From a searching long ball Chima scored with a nice acrobatic volley. This goal gave Mohunbagan players and supporters some hope while television camera spotted Amal Dutta fisting the air.

Then came the moment, the moment of glory and joy. Baichung Bhutia took the big stage to announce his reign. He scored two and took the game beyond the reach of Mohunbagan. The crowd went mad and all we could hear from television apart from the commentary was a roar “Baaichung – Baaaichung”.

I forgot to tell you the name of the commentators for the match. Novi Capadia and Noel De Souza were two commentators for STAR Sports for that very particular match. I like them both; they both have the vast knowledge of Indian football. Sadly Noel is no more with us. I take this opportunity to recall him once again.

It was quite an experience which I will cherish all along my life not only because East Bengal won or Baichung Bhutia scored a hattrick because of the greatness of the match. This was an advertisement of Indian football and its popularity but AIFF could not utilize the spark generated by this match. There are always sparks generated by Indianfootball but unfortunately they never become flame. Hope someday they will realize and utilize this kind of occasion to the next level of marketing for the betterment of football in this country.