SHOT IN THE BACK

The Nehru Cup final win over Syria gave one the impression that Indian football was no longer a mess, that it was finally emerging as a case study that could match up with other success stories in Asia. In the months to follow, India scored creditable wins over Chinese Taipei, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan. The long-awaited U-turn had finally happened, it seemed.

But India’s positive foray up the field has now ended in a familiar faulty finish. The open-net chance to score the vital goal was most clearly missed as India lost to Maldives in the final of the SAFF Cup at Male last week.

It is the kind of result that hurts Indian football the most. That euphoric night at Ambedkar Stadium is forgotten. That familiar smirk returns to the faces of long-suffering football fans whenever there is talk about the status of the world’s most popular game in the cricket-crazy country.

Since the ‘Mishap at Male’ last Saturday coincided with the excitement of Euro 2008, Indian football suffered another bad press day. There were no sympathies for the footballers since those feelings were reserved for the cricketers, who too had lost a final on the same day. Like the cricketers, the footballers had lost to the same opponents they had defeated earlier in the tournament, but the news from Male was far more depressing.

Defeat to our immediate neighbours — the South-Asian Federation (SAF) countries — often triggers caustic reactions besides the customary ‘writing off the footballers’ ritual in the country. Despite being the region’s big brother geographically and enjoying the highest place on the world ranking ladder, India have had, in the past, days similar to the one on Saturday. But since India’s last loss to a SAF nation — a 0-1 defeat to Nepal — was two years ago, and in the background of the string of highs in late ‘07 and early ‘08, that sinking feeling was forgotten.

Former national coach Syed Nayeemuddin, who helped India to two SAFF titles in ‘97 and ‘05, talks about the periodic gloom that Indian football witnesses after such losses. “We have lost the superiority that we had at one point of time. We need to work hard if we need to get back to the top level, even in the South Asian region,” he says.

What hurts Nayeem most is the equation between the federation, the players, and the coach. “It is the coach’s duty to motivate the players. Our players are not motivated enough, so how do you expect them to perform?” he asks, almost losing his breath after the rhetoric.

Former India player IM Vijayan, who was the top scorer during the 1997 edition of the SAFF Cup, adds to the depression when he says that he can’t see the standard of the game rising in the near future. “The other countries playing in the SAFF Cup have improved a lot, while the standards in India have remained the same. I doubt if we will ever be able to raise our standards drastically,” Vijayan says.

Even within the All Indian Football Federation, pessimism rules. The officials speak about a lack of a professional set-up. “We were a dominating side, at least in the region, till some few years ago. But now things have changed. The reason for Indian soccer going down is the lack of a developmental program. We don’t execute things at the right time and to make the situation worse, the set-up is not professional enough. It’s the development part that has to be looked at,” says an AIFF official on the condition of anonymity. He adds: “The FIFA funds are utilised well by nations such as Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, where the set-up is a lot better than in India. They have taken their developmental programme seriously.”

Former India coach Stephen Constantine doesn’t agree with this argument fully, but he too points out flaws in the system. “I think India are the leaders in the region as far as professionalism goes. But they need to focus on youth development. There are a lot of academies in India but many of them are not running as they should. The fact that India’s under-18 footballers do well is because most of the boys are actually under-20 or under-23. It’s no good running an under-18 team when all the players are well over-age. This is a big problem,” he says.

Interestingly, football happens to be a rare non-cricket sport in the country that doesn’t have the usual ‘lack of funds’ problem. “Money is the problem only when you don’t know how to spend it,” Constantine says, adding that the areas that urgently need it are being neglected. “India is a huge country and it is not easy getting everyone to think on the same lines. Clubs should only be allowed to play in the I-League if they have proper junior programmes.”

Vijayan too says that money is not the issue. “During our playing days the money wasn’t there, but we still got results. Since these days the players get big bucks, they too should share the blame for the decline of the sport. We can’t blame the officials all the time,” he says.

Nayeem says that a loss to a team such as the Maldives stalls the growth of the sport. He says that with most of the youngsters in the country exposed to world-class leagues on TV, they tend to patronise local players. “The fan-following gets reduced because of such results. There was a time when we had players like Chunni Goswami and IM Vijayan, who were stars. With European football getting so big, why would fans come and watch the Indians play? They know the game will be dull,” says Nayeem.

Supporting Nayeem’s statement is Vijayan. “When we used to play, the spirit was there at even the local level. Now it’s only Bhaichung Bhutia who the fans can look up to. The attraction for the game has gone down.”

So as India falter in their attempts to return into our imagination, Indian football fans will whet their appetite with the Spain vs Italy blockbuster in the Euro semi-final tonight.