Mumbai, India – For many years, India has lived with the label of being the “sleeping big” of soccer.
With a population of 1.4 billion, highest on the planet, there’s a prevailing sentiment that India is underrepresented in worldwide soccer.
In comparison with its dominance in cricket, the nation lags far behind in soccer and is but to qualify for a FIFA World Cup.
Whereas former FIFA president Sepp Blatter optimistically declared in 2012 that the “sleeping big is beginning to get up,” the fact in 2024 paints a distinct image.
At present positioned 102nd within the FIFA rankings and never even among the many prime 10 sides in Asia, India remains to be within the midst of its soccer awakening and struggling to emerge from its slumber, consultants argue.
“India just isn’t a large in soccer as a result of they haven’t carried out something on the worldwide entrance for years,” Stephen Constantine, former head coach of the Indian males’s soccer crew, informed Al Jazeera.
Indian soccer basked in glory within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, clinching gold on the 1951 and 1962 Asian Video games and securing a commendable fourth-place end on the 1956 Summer time Olympics.
Nonetheless, since that illustrious interval, India’s efficiency on the continental stage has been lacklustre, with the crew failing to progress previous the group stage on the Asian Cup in 1984, 2011 and 2019.
Throughout their final marketing campaign in 2019, the crew raised followers’ expectations with a 4-1 win over Thailand within the opening sport, however losses towards the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain meant India missed qualifying for the following spherical as soon as once more.
Now below coach Igor Stimac, India faces a tough marketing campaign on the Asian Cup, the place the boys in blue are grouped with groups ranked above them: Australia, Syria and Uzbekistan.
The crew’s fearless strategy below Stimac has impressed followers, however the coach sparked controversy in November when he mentioned “I don’t think about the Asian Cup as such an necessary event”.
Constantine, who took cost of India in 2002-05 and 2015-19, was shocked at Stimac’s remarks.
“It’s the most important event that India goes to play. What’s extra necessary than that?” Constantine mentioned.
Two sleeps away.. 🇮🇳#AsianCup2023 🏆 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/190vDWk52z
— Indian Soccer Staff (@IndianFootball) January 11, 2024
‘Harm limitation towards Australia’
India’s 26-member squad for the Asian Cup is led by the nation’s highest goal-scorer, Sunil Chhetri, and consists of the identical core group of gamers that Stimac has labored with since taking on. All squad members play for golf equipment within the Indian Tremendous League (ISL), the nation’s prime division.
Pradhyum Reddy, an Indian soccer coach, expects followers to have excessive hopes for Stimac’s aspect on the Asian Cup, however says the highway to outcomes is not going to be straightforward.
India’s marketing campaign opener is towards Australia, which reached the spherical of 16 on the Qatar World Cup 2022 earlier than being knocked out by eventual champions Argentina.
“Australia are seasoned opponents who have gotten their core group taking part in in Europe,” Reddy informed Al Jazeera.
“However the distinction is that below Stimac, India performs on the entrance foot, so gamers will attempt to press Australia and make life tough for them – perhaps even trigger them a number of issues, however I don’t assume we are going to get any pleasure out of that sport.
“It must be about injury limitation towards Australia. Don’t lose by greater than what the others did,” added Reddy.
Former India participant Darren Caldeira believes his nation’s finest likelihood of incomes factors shall be towards 91st-ranked Syria, as Uzbekistan (ranked 68th) might current more durable challenges.
“Nobody is speaking an excessive amount of about Uzbekistan, however they’re a rising powerhouse in central Asia,” Caldeira informed Al Jazeera. “They’ve some actually good gamers, particularly, Abdukodir Khusanov,” he added, referring to the 19-year-old Uzbek defender who performs for Ligue 1 membership Lens in France.
The gulf is getting larger
Within the lead-up to the Asian Cup, India received three tournaments in 2023, together with the SAFF Championship in July, which featured eight groups from South Asia.
Aside from Kyrgyzstan, all opponents that India confronted throughout the three tournaments are ranked beneath it. This highlights India’s tendency to play towards weaker-ranked opponents – a longstanding concern in Indian soccer.
“We have to play extra video games towards better-ranked nations,” mentioned former midfielder Caldeira, who’s now the director of soccer at top-tier Indian membership Bengaluru FC.
“Perhaps there was a fear prior to now, fearing the end result, however for us to enhance we should take dangers and problem ourselves towards high quality opponents,” he added.
Reddy, CEO of third-tier Indian membership Dempo, mentioned the crew’s Asian Cup qualification and different achievements masks the problems plaguing the game at dwelling.
“We’ve improved considerably within the final decade … However comparatively, I don’t assume we’ve improved as a lot as different regional groups together with Uzbekistan, Thailand and Vietnam,” Reddy mentioned.
“And positively not as a lot as Japan or South Korea – the gulf has received larger.”
Japan is at present the top-ranked Asian aspect adopted by Iran and South Korea in second and third respectively, whereas Australia and Saudi Arabia make up the highest 5. India is 18th on the checklist.
Former India coach Constantine blamed India’s sluggish progress on a scarcity of participant growth.
“After I got here to India in 2002, I realised that there’s expertise however we weren’t searching for it in the best locations. And once we did, we weren’t creating them. That is why India has not gone to the heights we imagined,” mentioned Constantine, the present Pakistan coach.
“In the mean time, if you have a look at the massive image, we don’t dominate within the area. So, in case you are not dominating within the area, how do you count on to dominate elsewhere?”
Poor high quality of teaching at varied ranges, absence of a sturdy league and a scarcity of sport time for gamers have hampered the progress of home soccer.
Constantine, an UEFA Professional Licence holder and FIFA teacher, emphasised the affect of poor teaching on India’s future and questioned the nation’s reliance on international coaches who might not prioritise the event of native expertise.
“If we don’t care in regards to the growth of Indian coaches, then how are we going to develop our gamers?” Constantine requested. “We should give attention to the event of Indian coaches in any respect ranges and demand on high quality, not amount.”
Reddy, who has labored with a number of ISL golf equipment, advocates for a nine-month league, aligning with worldwide requirements, versus the prevailing six-month ISL with 12 groups. He additionally emphasised the shortage of sport time within the decrease divisions of Indian soccer.
“Within the I-League 2 [third tier] and youth leagues, it’s comical how little soccer we play,” Reddy mentioned. “You examine that with youngsters in Japan, and the way a lot they play in highschool and faculties, it far exceeds what we’re doing on the semi-professional degree.”
Caldeira, who beforehand performed within the ISL, mentioned the league has helped the expansion of Indian soccer by bringing in professionalism that was lacking earlier.
“Up to now, we had quite a lot of good high quality footballers, however now we’re getting high quality footballers coupled with athletes,” he added. “I’ve performed with quite a lot of good footballers who had been technically fairly good, however when it comes to physicality, they most likely weren’t pretty much as good.
“However now you’re attending to see footballers who can run round for 90 minutes. After which once they have the ball they produce magic.”
Reddy, alternatively, argued that the ISL has not made a major change.
“In case you had been to calculate how a lot cash had been invested in ISL, a lot has exited Indian shores as a result of that cash has been paid to international coaches and marquee gamers, it’s cash that’s not within the Indian ecosystem,” Reddy defined.
“It will have been higher having that cash being pumped into Indian soccer in a method that it might develop and go away a tangible asset.”
Describing India as “minnows”, Reddy mentioned that the one method the nation can dream of taking part in on the World Cup is by persistently acting at main youth tournaments.
“We’ve by no means certified for an AFC U-23 event or the U-17 and U-20 World Cup on advantage,” Reddy mentioned. “So till we attain that degree, the place we’re bringing in groups which can be usually taking part in continental competitors and in any respect ranges on advantage, the remainder is simply hyperbole.”
