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Indian team leaves for Portugal

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: After watching a few World Cup matches in South Africa, National coach Bob Houghton was back at his job — to prepare the Indian team for the Asian Cup to be held in January next year.

A 28-member team left here for Portugal late on Wednesday for a two-month training camp.

“We have some players who have been playing and some who haven't. The job now is to get everybody to the same fitness level,” said Houghton.

At a press meet here on Wednesday, the National coach informed that the team would get to play 10 matches during the camp. “Each player will get to play five matches,” he said. The team will return in September for a series of friendly matches against international outfits.

Looking ahead, Houghton repeated what he had been saying at every interaction with the media. “To have a good National team you have to have a very good National league. Unfortunately, we don't have the infrastructure to do that. We need commitment from the clubs to develop young players but they don't have the facilities.”

Would India qualify from the group in the Asian Cup where it has been clubbed with Australia (No. 1 seed), Korea (No. 3 seed) and Bahrain (No. 5 seed)? “Only a brave man would say we would. We have the strongest group possible but I can say that we'll be well prepared and won't be intimidated. We'll go with the right attitude.”

Houghton conceded that it was “difficult” for him to “change things” in the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) for various reasons but he hoped the team had taken the first step by qualifying for the Asian Cup in a long time.”

The National coach refused to hazard a guess on who would win the World Cup but he was in favour of “video technology” to judge “goalline” decisions.

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