Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Soccer fiesta

Photo: Nagara Gopal

mercurial striker Baichung Bhutia

There can be few better sights for the sports-loving Hyderabadis than a Baichung Bhutia out there in the middle of Lal Bahadur Stadium. And, when the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup unfolds on July 30 it will surely give the fans, especial ly soccer lovers, a rare opportunity to see the likes of Bhutia in action – leading the Indian challenge on the field with his now familiar, dazzling style of soccer upfront.

Baichung came into national reckoning in the 1992 Subroto Cup with a wonderful display and at the age of 16 joined the Kolkata giant, East Bengal Club. By 1995, this gifted footballer moved over to JCT Mills and helped it win the National Football League, emerging as the leading goal-scorer.

The ever-reliable Bhutia can be the cynosure of all eyes if everything goes according to the plan, following the 14-day exposure trip to Portugal.

International football will return to the city after the 2003 Afro-Asian Games competition held here. For the soccer-crazy fans of the twin cities, this mega event is bound to evince great interest considering the proximity also, unlike the Gachibowli sports infrastructure.

But the first impression of former English international and Indian chief coach Bob Houghton may not sound like music to the organisers. The Englishman minced no words at the way their training stint started at the venue. He was fuming at the state of the ground during the team’s first practice session.

“I don’t think football is played anywhere in the world on a cricket field,” were his terse remarks. “The ground conditions are disappointing. Not right to host a major tournament like Asia Cup when the whole soccer world will be watching. “We always read that India is hovering around 150 in world rankings. Now we realise why it is so, not just because of players or coaches but because of bad infrastructure. Now it is not surprising for me why India is languishing so low in FIFA rankings,” Houghton exclaimed.

Ironically, this is the same venue which came in for all-round appreciation when it hosted the ICL Championship and then was in the news after a political convention was held at the same place which needed huge repairs to the ground.

But injuries to two key players, central defender Mahesh Gawli (knee) and right-winger Steven Dias (ankle) are worrying the coach. “These are the two biggest concerns for me ahead of the AFC Challenge,” he confessed. But in the same breath, he oozed confidence from the fact that he should be in a dilemma about “whom to drop as I have an abundance of talent available. And there is excellent understanding among the players now.”

Houghton also felt uneasy with the schedule of the AFC Challenge with India playing three games in five days whereas it will be one game in five days in Europe. “The Asians have to think about these things more seriously,” he observed.

“I believe that if we get a good start we should do well in this event,” the Indian coach remarked. “I don’t think I am under pressure to deliver the goods,” says the Englishman who, as the Indian coach, has only the Nehru Cup title triumph to his credit.

Baichung, the first Indian to play professional football in England, led the national football team to title triumph at the LG Cup in Vietnam in 2002 and the East Bengal Club to the LG Asian Club Cup football championship victory in Jakarta in 2003, says the initial worries about preparations are a thing of the past.

An interesting piece of statistics reveals the importance of Bhutia to Indian football. In the first-ever National Football League in 1996-97, he was the top scorer with 14 goals and in the I-League, Bhutia was the top scorer from India with nine goals last year.

The mercurial striker attributes the halo around him to media hype. But when India enters the field, all that the fans and the team look for, from him, is a typical Bhutia special to script another title triumph. Indian football is desperately looking for a repeat of the last Nehru Cup victory almost one year ago. “We are capable of playing quality football,” Bhuita insists.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail