Kolkata, October 16 * 14 teams in I-League from next year
* Nehru Cup is going to be bigger and better
Bob Houghton was fuming as a section of the media jostled for space and delayed the start of the press conference. Actually, it was the lack of farsightedness from the organiser’s part (the IFA) who arranged this interaction at a medium-sized Yuba Bharati Krirangan room.
The Indian football team coach wanted to explain his plans at the blackboard. He was cramped for room as the tripods and other gadgets occupied the free space. The Englishman threatened to walk out. Sanity restored only after IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly took the microphone and made a request. Then the venerable coach took charge and he was in his element.
The head coach of the national team talked about his meeting with the club coaches where he laid down the roadmap for the future. Initially, he has chalked out a two-year plan keeping an eye on the Asian Cup in January 2011.
He talked about Dempo’s chances in the AFC Cup, which according to him is very good. He also talked about the marketing aspects and the player-power.
“For Indian football, to make its presence felt, the national team has to get success. On the other hand, the I-League has to be the premier tournament and very competitive. The two must go hand in hand,” he said.
So, from the next year onwards, I-League will start in May with 14 teams and will continue till September.
In between, there would breaks for the senior national team’s camp in January, March and July. The Nehru Cup will be played in August. This time, Houghton is thinking about suggesting the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to invite Australia and Japan Under-23 teams for the event.
Qualification for the Asian Cup has meant that India are now among the Asian elites and Houghton plans to raise the bar for the national team’s friendlies.
“We have an invitation from Thailand for the King’s Cup where Denmark are expected to play. We also have an invitation from the UAE. When I took over, the confidence of the players was very low. We started with a 7-1 defeat. I had never been to a 7-1 game before. From there, it has been some progress, especially in the last season. But we still have a long way to go and should plan accordingly,” he said. The coach is set to renew his contract next week.
“Leave aside the top five-six Asian teams. Seven to 20 should be our target now and we should play more matches against them,” he added.
Houghton’s plans, if materialised, will see I-League matches in the weekends and the state league matches on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It will also see top national team players are not playing more than 40 matches a year.
Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa, East Bengal coach Stanley Rozario and Mohammedan Sporting coach Sabbir Ali, who attended the day’s meeting with Houghton, gave their go-ahead. “Everybody will approve this unless he is a real traditionalist or has vested interests because this is the calendar the world follows. We have to keep some space for the Fifa dates, we have to ensure there is not much gap between national team camps. There should be continuity. At the same time, the scheduling will see that the clubs are not deprived of the services of their players,” Houghton observed.
He has been maintaining that the 2018 World Cup finals is the realistic hope for India to qualify. So, a separate plan for the Olympic team is also ready.
As for marketing, he said: “We have to strike a right and balance. We don’t want it go the IPL way. In England, 70 percent of the sponsorship money goes straight to the players. Here, it’s not possible at the moment because we don’t have that many sponsors. I think it’s a waste inviting teams like Bayern Munich to play an exhibition match. That sponsorship money would be better served if they build a couple grounds with synthetic grass.”
He wound up saying that Dempo have a very good chance to qualify for the AFC Cup final and singled out JCT for special praise for producing quality players consistently.
“In two years down the line, you would see eight to nine Punjab players in the national team,” he concluded.
Source:IndianExpress.com
* Nehru Cup is going to be bigger and better
Bob Houghton was fuming as a section of the media jostled for space and delayed the start of the press conference. Actually, it was the lack of farsightedness from the organiser’s part (the IFA) who arranged this interaction at a medium-sized Yuba Bharati Krirangan room.
The Indian football team coach wanted to explain his plans at the blackboard. He was cramped for room as the tripods and other gadgets occupied the free space. The Englishman threatened to walk out. Sanity restored only after IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly took the microphone and made a request. Then the venerable coach took charge and he was in his element.
The head coach of the national team talked about his meeting with the club coaches where he laid down the roadmap for the future. Initially, he has chalked out a two-year plan keeping an eye on the Asian Cup in January 2011.
He talked about Dempo’s chances in the AFC Cup, which according to him is very good. He also talked about the marketing aspects and the player-power.
“For Indian football, to make its presence felt, the national team has to get success. On the other hand, the I-League has to be the premier tournament and very competitive. The two must go hand in hand,” he said.
So, from the next year onwards, I-League will start in May with 14 teams and will continue till September.
In between, there would breaks for the senior national team’s camp in January, March and July. The Nehru Cup will be played in August. This time, Houghton is thinking about suggesting the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to invite Australia and Japan Under-23 teams for the event.
Qualification for the Asian Cup has meant that India are now among the Asian elites and Houghton plans to raise the bar for the national team’s friendlies.
“We have an invitation from Thailand for the King’s Cup where Denmark are expected to play. We also have an invitation from the UAE. When I took over, the confidence of the players was very low. We started with a 7-1 defeat. I had never been to a 7-1 game before. From there, it has been some progress, especially in the last season. But we still have a long way to go and should plan accordingly,” he said. The coach is set to renew his contract next week.
“Leave aside the top five-six Asian teams. Seven to 20 should be our target now and we should play more matches against them,” he added.
Houghton’s plans, if materialised, will see I-League matches in the weekends and the state league matches on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It will also see top national team players are not playing more than 40 matches a year.
Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa, East Bengal coach Stanley Rozario and Mohammedan Sporting coach Sabbir Ali, who attended the day’s meeting with Houghton, gave their go-ahead. “Everybody will approve this unless he is a real traditionalist or has vested interests because this is the calendar the world follows. We have to keep some space for the Fifa dates, we have to ensure there is not much gap between national team camps. There should be continuity. At the same time, the scheduling will see that the clubs are not deprived of the services of their players,” Houghton observed.
He has been maintaining that the 2018 World Cup finals is the realistic hope for India to qualify. So, a separate plan for the Olympic team is also ready.
As for marketing, he said: “We have to strike a right and balance. We don’t want it go the IPL way. In England, 70 percent of the sponsorship money goes straight to the players. Here, it’s not possible at the moment because we don’t have that many sponsors. I think it’s a waste inviting teams like Bayern Munich to play an exhibition match. That sponsorship money would be better served if they build a couple grounds with synthetic grass.”
He wound up saying that Dempo have a very good chance to qualify for the AFC Cup final and singled out JCT for special praise for producing quality players consistently.
“In two years down the line, you would see eight to nine Punjab players in the national team,” he concluded.
Source:IndianExpress.com
