Sports India

The possibilities of Bhaichung Bhutia joining the India camp for the Asian Cup qualifier tie against Saudi Arabia, are looking grim.

With the India camp set to commence in Kolkata on August 4, there are no signs of coach Bob Houghton deciding to call the ace striker to attend the camp as the ex-skipper hasn’t been named in the list of 34 probables announced by the AIFF.

The AIFF general secretary, Mr Alberto Colaco informed that there are no plans of recalling Bhutia for the Asian Cup qualifiers camp. “The final decision on Bhutia’s selection will rest with the coach as the AIFF is not in a position to decide on this matter,” Mr Colaco added. “Houghton needs to be consulted before bringing any change in the list of campers,” he mentioned.

It may be recalled that Bhutia skipped the Vancouver camp held in Goa in June and since then has expressed his desire to retire from international football although the AIFF president, Mr P R Dasmunshi, despite having exempted the ace striker from playing in Canada, did request Bhutia to postpone his retirement decision till the Asian Games in December.

Mr Colaco clarified that the present list of footballers called to attend the Kolkata camp has been prepared by Houghton, who chose to exclude Bhutia. The AIFF secretary, however, maintained that he was still unaware whether Bhutia is willing to join the camp. Interestingly, the probables’ list for the Asian cup tie has accommodated veteran midfielder Jo Paul Ancheri, who has not been playing regularly for the past two seasons. His sudden inclusion has raised a few eyebrows but sources in Kolkata disclosed that there were chances that some member from the technical committee might have influenced the coach to have a look at Ancheri.

Meanwhile, the AIFF is likely to chalk out a policy decision very shortly on recruiting players of Indian origin to strengthen the national teams. The decision would be taken in line with the FIFA guidelines and the law of the land.

However, Bhutia’s stay at Bagan was less enjoyable. Plagued by injury, the former India captain found himself in a bitter war with club officials. But its a new day and a new beginning. “It was quite unfortunate that I got injured during a crucial time of the National league. But this is a second opportunity and a new challenge,” he said.

Mohun Bagan’s key rivals East Bengal are the biggest losers in the transfer market. Bhutia will not feature in their line up and their only major signing has been Brazilian coach Periera Da Silva

Bhaichung Bhutia’s name is again missing from the list of 32 players for the national coaching camp from August 4 in Kolkata in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on August 16.
The Mohun Bagan striker, who is not part of the team which is in Canada for the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup, has expressed his desire to call time on his international career.

AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had said he would talk to the star goalpoacher and try to persuade him to prolong his career till the Doha Asian Games in “national interest.” The match against the Asian giants would be the next assignmant for English coach Bob Houghton, whose stint began on a losing note when India went down to Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-3.

India will also take on Japan in another qualifier in Bangalore on October 11, the main target being the Doha Asian Games in December.

Bhaichung Bhutia’s name is again missing from the list of 32 players for the national coaching camp from August 4 in Kolkata in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on August 16.
The Mohun Bagan striker, who is not part of the team which is in Canada for the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup, has expressed his desire to call time on his international career.

AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had said he would talk to the star goalpoacher and try to persuade him to prolong his career till the Doha Asian Games in “national interest.”

The match against the Asian giants would be the next assignment for English coach Bob Houghton, whose stint began on a losing note when India went down to Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-3.

India will also take on Japan in another qualifier in Bangalore on October 11, the main target being the Doha Asian Games in December.

The list of 32 players:

Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Subrata Paul (Mohun Bagan), Subhasis Roy Chaudhary (Mahindra United), Arindam Bhattacharya (TFA)

Defenders: Surukumar Singh (Mahindra United), Mahesh Gawli (Mahindra United), N S Manju (Mahindra United), Deepak Mondal (Mohun Bagan), Samir Naik (Dempo SC), Anupam Sarkar (East Bengal), Narinder Singh (JCT), NP Pradeep (Mahindra United), Habibur Rehman Mondal (East Bengal), Abdul Bashir (SBT), Joe Paul Ancheri (Kerala), Debabrata Roy (East Bengal), Sanjiv Maria (Mohun Bagan), Rakesh Masih (TFA)

Midfielders: S. Venkatesh (Mahindra United), Steven Dias (Mahindra United), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (Mohun Bagan), Manjit Singh (Bengal), Dharamjit Singh (Mohun Bagan), P Renedy Singh (JCT), Tarif Ahmed (East Bengal), Micky Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Madhab Kumar Das (Mohammedan Sporting), Bibiano Fernandes (East Bengal), K Ajayan(Mahindra United)

Forwards: Sushil Kumar Singh (Mohun Bagan), Rahim Nabi (East Bengal), Fredy Mascarnhas (East Bengal).

Is he in or is he out? The mystery surrounding star Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia’s return to the national colours continues. After announcing his retirement from international football, Bhutia has been pursued by the Federation and new coach Bob Houghton to change his mind - and now Bhutia has hinted at just that.

“After playing for 12 years, I think there are times when you don’t feel motivated enough, so I did discuss retirement plans with the president. A new coach has come, he spoke to me as well. I’m just waiting for (the team) to come back from Canada and then speak to the coach once more and then take a decision,” said Bhutia to TIMES NOW.

Bhutia’s story is one of rare success in Indian football - a player rising to the top despite the system. He is easily India’s best striker, and also an inspirational leader. And his absence is hurting the national team, who lost their first match under Houghton in Canada. So what prompted Bhutia to throw in the towel when he still had lots of football in him?

“I never said that I’m not going to play. It’s just my motivation factor that is missing. It does happen to any player I guess. That’s the only situation,” said Bhutia.

If Bhutia does don the national colours again, his first major assignment will come at the Asian Games in Qatar. And his presence will help the team.

Bhaichung Bhutia will be applying his skills for the famous maroon-and-white team – East Bengal – this season. But the big news as far as Indian football is concerned, is that Bhaichung could possibly make a return to international duty. Certainly good news for coach Bob Houghton who’s finding it tough in Canada.

Bhaichung Bhutia’s name is again missing from the list of 32 players for the national coaching camp from August 4 in Kolkata in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on August 16.

The Mohun Bagan striker, who is not part of the team which is in Canada for the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup, has expressed his desire to call time on his international career.

AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had said he would talk to the star goal poacher and try to persuade him to prolong his career till the Doha Asian Games in “national interest.”

The match against the Asian giants would be the next assignment for English coach Bob Houghton, whose stint began on a losing note when India went down to Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-3.

India will also take on Japan in another qualifier in Bangalore on October 11, the main target being the Doha Asian Games in December.

Players selected for the national camp:

Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Subrata Paul (Mohun Bagan), Subhasis Roy Chaudhary (Mahindra United), Arindam Bhattacharya (TFA)

Defenders: Surukumar Singh (Mahindra United), Mahesh Gawli (Mahindra United), N S Manju (Mahindra United), Deepak Mondal (Mohun Bagan), Samir Naik (Dempo SC), Anupam Sarkar (East Bengal), Narinder Singh (JCT), N.P. Pradeep (Mahindra United), Habibur Rehman Mondal (East Bengal), Abdul Bashir (SBT), Joe Paul Ancheri (Kerala), Debabrata Roy (East Bengal), Sanjiv Maria (Mohun Bagan), Rakesh Masih (TFA)

Midfielders: S. Venkatesh (Mahindra United), Steven Dias (Mahindra United), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (Mohun Bagan), Manjit Singh (Bengal), Dharamjit Singh (Mohun Bagan), P. Renedy Singh (JCT), Tarif Ahmed (East Bengal), Micky Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Madhab Kumar Das (Mohammedan Sporting), Bibiano Fernandes (East Bengal), K Ajayan(Mahindra United)

Forwards: Sushil Kumar Singh (Mohun Bagan), Rahim Nabi (East Bengal), Fredy Mascarnhas (East Bengal).

The Indian football team takes the field for the first time under the guidance of new coach Bob Houghton when it meets a local club side at the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup on Wednesday.

After taking over last month, Houghton, who has previous coaching experience with the national sides of China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, conducted a three-week long camp in Goa, and selected a 20-member squad for the tour out of the 35 players who attended the stint.

In the absence of star striker Bhaichung Bhutia, who did not attend the camp and has asked to be excused from national duty, their team will be led by Mahindra United midfielder Shanmugam Venkatesh who wore the captain’s armband before the ace goalpoacher returned to the side for the SAF Cup in Karachi late last year.

With the Mohun Bagan stalwart missing from the line-up, the Indian forwardline sports a much weakened look and the responsibility of finding the net would fall on the Kolkata outfit’s Sushil Kumar Singh, JCT Mills’ talented Sunil Chetri and Freddy Mascarenhas of Churchill Brothers.

India’s new football coach Bob Houghton was given his first taste of the Capital press conference, courtesy the All India Football Federation, on the naturalised home turf of its president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. After the lulling calm that the Goan environs offered, this must have come as some sort of eye-opener for the journeyman British coach. Kolkata’s next, in early August.

In a sauna-like conference hall of the Dr Ambedkar Stadium which probably also doubles up as the computer store room for the stadium authorities or the local Delhi Soccer Association, Houghton, immaculately but horribly over-dressed in his suit and tie, must have squirmed in his seat when Dasmunsi raised his voice over the cameraman banter asking for order. And got it. If this was so easy, imagine him getting his way in and out of team selection and other less-subtle ways to show who’s boss.

Welcome to Indian football, Mr Houghton. You might as well have brought along a copy of FIFA Manager ‘06 for your Indian stint. You could need it, you never know.

After a two-minute monologue dripping with self-important pomp over the status of Bhaichung Bhutia and his continuing - or severed - sojourn with the Indian National team, and needless to add, his role in the whole thing, the AIFF president let his latest high-profile appointment take the floor. Houghton, despite not saying anything new, immediately displayed a relaxed candour and a quiet earnestness. All of it honed no doubt, by years and years of travelling and coaching in moody, foreign climes (Remember, he’s been a football coach since he was 27.)

A sworn fan of the long ball, even if he likes to disguise the use of much-derided idea with the expression “move the ball around, quickly", Houghton’s insistence that the Indian set-up required a good number of tall strapping boys may have sounded slightly out of place, but was sold remarkably well by the new coach. “A lot of goals in today’s game come off set-pieces. The World Cup final has been testimony to that.

“My gut feeling is that modern soccer players are simply growing bigger each season and India cannot remain an exception. We plan to get one or two physically bigger and stronger boys for India’s future campaigns once we return from Vancouver.”

Houghton’s single-mindedness for six-foot-plus players came to the fore when he revealed he had asked for the services of Manipur’s Sushil Singh and when he singled out Micky Fernandes and Freddy Mascarenhas for their height. These three are part of the squad that will leave early on Monday for the four-team tournament in Vancouver.

But just when Houghton seemed settling into a groove, his president remembered it was time for him to announce to the media of his meeting with the FIFA president Sepp Blatter during the World Cup final. After his string of empty promises on the FIFA supremo, Dasmunsi let the bombshell drop that this time Blatter would not stay for a day but for three days! There was pin-drop silence. It was information we simply couldn’t do without.

Then after what seemed like eternity, wits gathered, someone asked the new coach another question. But it was hijacked by Dasmunsi, who gave his version of it and then called off the press meet as quickly as he had called it.

Then he went out, and got cosy in a sofa high above the ground from where Houghton was directing his new team. Big Brother was watching.

India has to take immediate remedial measures. One of the abiding images of this Cup sadly will be of Zinadine Zidane’s head-butting of Marco Materazzi. Italy may have won the World Cup, but I think Materazzi is a loser. The Azurri defender scored two important goals, but besmirched his reputation by the manner in which he provoked Zidane.

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Now that the dust has settled on the World Cup extravaganza, it’s time to reflect on the tournament and why football, which is such a popular game, is languishing in India, a country of a billion people. Sadly, after all the wild enthusiam shown by India’s football-crazy fans, they had more disappointing news. FIFA, football’s governing body, has just further downgraded India from an abysmal 117 to 130th position. It always hurts to see India nowhere in the biggest stage of world soccer. But that’s bound to be. When I see that the other countries spend more than 100 times of money and energy than India to develop football, my sadness gives way to frustration. The standards of the game is such in our country that it is now too much to expect India to make the cut in the immediate future. I think India has not been able to make much of an impression at the international stage because of the present set-up. We have to be more professional in our approach and only then can we make some progress. What we urgently need is good coaches at all levels. It is absolutely imperative to have quality coaches not only at the top level but at the grassroot level also.
The lack of quality coaches has been one of the reasons why India has not been able to unearth talent. I am sure there is ample talent at the grassroot level, but we should have a mechanism to discover those players. It is time we take remedial measures. Of course, we cannot expect the results to come overnight. But atleast we should have a system in place which can produce results. I feel touched by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi’s statement that he would like me to come back to the Indian team. I will wait for the team to come back from the tournament in Canada before taking a final decision. I will have a discussion with the coach and AIFF officials before I make up my mind.
To go back to the World Cup, it was marked by some excellent fooball and many upsets. One of the abiding images of this Cup sadly will be of Zinadine Zidane’s head-butting of Marco Materazzi. Italy may have won the World Cup, but I think Materazzi is a loser. The Azurri defender scored two important goals, but besmirched his reputation by the manner in which he provoked Zidane. Though it was a tactical ploy, I feel good players will never provoke opponents in the way Materazzi did. They will let their skills speak for themselves. One would have expected Materazzi to be high on confidence after striking twice for the eventual champions during the tournament. But instead, the Italian’s inferiority complex showed in the way he abused Zidane. However, I do not hold any brief for Zidane. I am not trying to defend him for the head-butting incident. Zidane should have remembered that he was playing the World Cup final, and his side needed him so much. He should have kept his cool, and not reacted in
such a manner.
I hear that FIFA is conducting an investigation into the incident, and Zidane may be stripped of the golden ball award if found guilty. I find this surprising. Zidane was chosen for the award by the world’s leading soccer journalists who had gone to cover the World Cup. He was selected for his extraordinary performance. If FIFA wanted to have a say on this, then it should in the first place have laid down a set of clear-cut rules to be adhered to before deciding on the award. It should have appointed an expert panel as the jury. FIFA had never said beforehand that a player could not be considered for the award on disciplinary grounds. So, why is FIFA now trying to intervene in a matter which has been decided by journalists? Also, there are age-old provisions for punishing on-field misbehaviour with yellow and red cards. Zidane had to leave the field after being given marching orders. Now, if he is deprived of the golden ball award, then it will amount to double punishment.
What a great tournament Zidane had! Ten or 15 years from now, when people talk of the 2006 world Cup, they will talk of only Zidane. After 1986, when Maradona stole the show with his magical performance, no other player has dominated a World Cup as much as Zidane did this time. Even the entire build-up to the July 9 final was around Zidane. It was billed more as a clash between Zidane and Italy, than between France and Italy. So, the head-butting incident cannot belittle Zidane’s role in the World Cup, though France may have finished runners up to Italy.
I was not at all surprised by Italy’s success. I had expected them to win. Teams with strong defences have done well in the tourney. A side like Italy, that boasts of a host of outstanding defenders, is always at an advantage. The opponent forwards, failing to break the dour resistance, end up frustrated, and commit mistakes. Also, if the team is up by a goal, the defenders can soak in the added pressure from the rivals. Fabio Cannavaro was undoubtedly the pick of the Italian rearguard. On the other hand, Brazil’s showing was very disappointing. The eternal favourites of the World Cup never got their touch. They never really hit upon the right playing combination. Ronaldo got three goals, but he was nowhere near to even 50 per cent of his prime form. An injury-free Ronado is still deadly, but he was not fully fit. And it showed. The Brazilians also seemed more focussed on helping Ronaldo become the highest goal scorer in Cup history, and that affected their game.
Another disappointing feature is that none of the Asian teams could make it past the opening round. After the heady success of the last edition, when co-hosts Japan and Korea did so well, the latest version must have come as a major embarrassment for the continent’s football bosses. But when the tournment is staged on European soil, the established sides have a head-start compared to the emerging nations. Most of the players, who turn out for the frontline teams, play in Europe. They found themelves on familiar terrain. This is why, except Ukraine and Portugal, the other six quarter finalists were all former champions.

After the euphoria of the World Cup, it is time to get back to the drudgery of Indian football. And for starters, city football fanatics, still under the hangover of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’, will be exhorted to turn up in numbers and watch the local fare with as much enthusiasm as they did the events in Germany.

The Premier Division League of the Indian Football Association (IFA)’s Sahara Calcutta Football League, 2006 will begin on July 21 and will continue till September 27. The unique feature about this year’s edition is that 36 matches, featuring the three big clubs — East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting — will be telecast live on a local TV channel. With Sahara coming forward to sponsor the league and most of the matches being telecast live, the profile of the league is expected to rise.

The Premier Division League, into its second year following the IFA’s plans to go professional, has eight teams in fray. Mohun Bagan are the defending champions and have assembled a high-flying team with the likes of Bhaichung Bhutia and Jose Barreto spearheading their attack this season.

Their arch-rivals East Bengal have a young side under an old head in Brazilian coach Carlos Roberto Silva. The other big club, Mohammedan Sporting too have assembled a strong side under Subhas Bhowmick. The team to watch out for this season could be the United Sports Club, formerly Ever-ready Association, which is being coached by the pony-tailed Belgian Philippe de Ridder, who was coach of East Bengal last year.

The first derby of the season between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will be held on August 19, with the return leg scheduled on September 15. Mohun Bagan will be the first of the Big Three to open their campaign against Port Trust on July 31. Mohammedan Sporting play their first match the following day against Railway FC, while East Bengal take on George Telegraph on August 2.

Following are the big clashes of the CFL: First Phase: 10th August: Mohun Bagan vs Md Sporting, 19th August: East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan, 26th August: East Bengal vs Md Sporting. Return Leg: 6th September: Mohun Bagan vs Md Sporting, 15th September: East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan, 27th September: East Bengal vs Md Sporting.