India’s coach Bob Houghton feels it’s high time Indian soccer finds a replacement for Baichung Bhutia. And he knows there is just one player who has the same aura to replace Bhutia once he retires. “In a couple of years you would lose Baichung as he is already 32. The biggest question is finding a replacement for Bhutia. Fortunately, there is one player in Sunil Chettri. I don’t see anybody else other than him.” According to Houghton, “India have only 70 players playing professional football and it is a depressing scene that we have just one player who can be the rightful owner to take Bhutia’s place,” Houghton told The Indian Express. The coach further added that if India are looking to compete at that level they need to have strong bench strength. “You don’t produce big players out of fresh air. If you take the 30 players that attended the camp in Goa and divide them into two sets, half of them are short in stature, around 170-172 cm and the younger half is 177-178cms. We have to induct taller players into the ranks and that’s going to take some time,” he said.The national coach was of the view that it was high time Indian soccer improved itself. “What gives us the divine right to be better than Malaysia or Pakistan? Do we have better coaches, better clubs, better doctors, better physio’s, better nutrition, what do we have that gives us the divine right to be better than Malaysia or any other SAFF nation?” he said. “We need to improve ourselves to move on and if we don’t we are going to be left behind as there are so many countries that are going in the right direction. If you look at the facilities that Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar have got now then you will realise what a challenge we have to keep up with them,” he said, adding that Indian football had changed in just one sphere and that is the way the game is played. “We now play more of an attacking game,” he said.
