The Hindu : Sport / Football : `Indian set-up needs total revamp'

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Wednesday, Oct 04, 2006
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`Indian set-up needs total revamp'

Principal Correspondent

BANGALORE: "The need of the hour is a total revamp of the football development programme in the country," Indian football coach Robert Douglas Houghton said here on Tuesday. Houghton is here to train the team ahead of the Asia Cup qualifying match against Japan slated for next week at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium.

India will be playing for pride and assessment as Japan and Saudi Arabia have already qualified from the group. Yemen is the fourth team in the group. India will play its last match against Yemen on Nov. 15.

Bob Houghton, as he is popularly known, does think highly about some of the players, but is pained at the recent loss to Saudi Arabia.

"We lost 7-1 and that's humiliating. True, Saudi Arabia is fourth best in Asia and has been qualifying for the World Cup frequently. A loss is acceptable, but not 7-1. We played some good football in the first 30 minutes of the game and even went a goal up," he said.

"India is 27th in Asia and languishing around 130 in the world ranking and still has a long way to go. But realistically speaking, there is a lot of planning and system to be put in place," he said.

A very tough task

"We need to target, say 2014, for a possible World Cup qualification and for that to happen, we need to be amongst the top five in Asia", he said.

. "Playing Saudi Arabia (twice) and Japan (once) for the first three matches is no easy task for any coach and the results have been a disaster. So a good performance against Japan next week will be great," he said. "At the international level, six out of every ten goals is from set-pieces and for that to happen we need really tall and well-built players. While our average height is 175cm, other teams have players above 185cm. Technically and tactically we are well equipped, but on the physical and psychological aspects we lag behind," he said.

"Our preparation for the match against Japan has been poor. The ground at MEG Centre is bumpy and rough and not ideal for good football. And we have players coming in for the camp with an injury sustained during the Santosh Trophy. That is absurd," he said.

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