It’s time to pop open the champagne then, eh? After all we conceded just thirteen goals throughout our inspiring Asia Cup campaign where we could have expected to notch up that number in the ‘Goals Against’ column in our opener against the Socceroos. And to add to the party we scored three of our own - yes, that’s three more than what many of us will manage against these opposition playing FIFA games on XBoxes and PlayStations representing India, if and when they ever get down to putting our national team on the hallowed game.
Cutting out the sarcasm, our team’s appearance at one of football’s least high-profile major tournaments did give us a few moments to cherish. To see Climax on the same field as Cahill and saying the names Pradeep and Park Ji Sung in the same sentence were goose bump triggers in themselves, that there were moments when our boys held their own against these relative nabobs of footy was as close to stimulating as you could possibly get while seeing your national team being laundered on international television.
Subrata Paul’s heroic saves, zillion goal line clearances, Chhetri’s delightful touches, the overall performance against Bahrain where we actually dominated for spells, Bhutia’s late entry in the final game against Korea and how it lifted a tired team will, all keep coming back to memory as vividly as a replay. And of course the greatest moment of them all, the stunning strike from Renedy against Bahrain that was unfortunately not called as a goal, though the error was rectified by Chhetri knocking the rebound in for India’s second of the match. In the stands there were roaring Indian fans who provided some degree of credibility to the tournament - India v Bahrain had 11,000 people in a stadium that seats 13,000, Australia v Korea a game with the two biggest teams in the continent had about half that many people.
Of course, for every silver lining, there is a heaven full of grey clouds. Our skill and technique rarely came into the picture, so far behind were we on speed, strength and stamina. Not that athleticism or the lack of it came across as our only short coming. Our defence was at times amusing and at other moments hilarious. Paul, for all his shot stopping abilities made too many errors while collecting crosses and in his positioning. The midfield failed to hold the ball for longer than nano-seconds and though the strikers didn’t disgrace themselves, for most of the tournament, they saw as much as the action as the saas-bahu audience back in their homeland.
It’s not surprising then, that India’s presence at the game has been met with lots of patronizing comments and little doses of ridicule. Remember, India did not make it to the tournament through a grinding qualifying process, but by winning a tournament of minnows called the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, where surprisingly even countries like Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and North Korea (the giants of that stage) did not send in their first teams. While ESPNStar’s Jesse Fink plainly stated that ‘India don’t belong at the Asia Cup’, the splendid blog theballisround neatly summed up how far behind India seem to be by comparing our crowd’s excitement at stringing two passes together to Japanese and Korean fans from twenty years ago. The question though is, are we beginning to look like we will be there twenty years from now?
There are positive signs for Indian football which could make indeed turn the corner for us and at least make us competitive at the Asian level in that time. The IMG Reliance deal with AIFF bodes well. Fundamental changes that this partnership brings about in Indian football could make the difference. What is unlikely is that the legacy of three not-as-bad-as-expected drubbings will cause a change. Or future easy passes to the Asia Cup.
We know now that FIFA and hence, the AFC are making desperate attempts to woo India just like any money-minded multinational. Why else would blabbering Blatter raise the spector of a World Cup hosted by India in 2026? Yet, the approach that says making us whipping boys will lead to surge in domestic popularity for our team and the game seems misguided.
Would it not be better for example, to put us through the proper qualifying rigors and then hold a tier-two tournament which could have teams that finished 17-32 in the qualifiers competing for a trophy. India are about 25th in Asia and it may be more fun seeing where we stand against Thailand and Malaysia rather than Australia and South Korea. Our results will be better and with India’s participation, the tournament can be assured of about as much commercial success as the Asia Cup. The AFC itself, runs second tier championships at the club level and this seems to be a natural extension of the idea.
It was expensive preparing our team for these three matches. Bob Houghton, in an approach unique in International football, plucked our best players from their clubs to keep them together for a long time in the build up to this tournament. He was forced to do so as our clubs have disgraceful training facilities and our players regress when they train with their clubs. The return for the investment made by the AIFF and sponsors will have to be much more tangible than a handful of fans being left with flashes of success amidst hours of depression. So while it was nice being at the Asia Cup, maybe we should leave that alone for now and take some baby steps where they need to be taken. How about some I-League on TV for starters?
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