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| Indian National Team |
The scenario of a sport
in any country can be understood just by looking at its position in the international
ranking table. As per the latest update, India is 145th in FIFA
rankings. The neighboring countries like China (95) and Japan (37) are way
ahead of us. The shocker was that the countries like Afghanistan (139) and Tajikistan
(114) were also ahead of us. The ranks of neighboring countries do not make me
feel jealous, but for purely many “footballing reasons” it worries me.
The only way to increase the
standings is by playing international matches on every given FIFA dates. Last
international match India played was on March 6 2013, against Myanmar in AFC Challenge
Cup. If we look at the below given table, India has just played 5 international
matches in last 11 months. FIFA even refused to accept the match played against
Cameroon (B) as a valid one.
India went unprepared and lost the AFC
challenge cup against lower ranked teams like Myanmar and Bangladesh, which
resulted in disqualification from 2015 Asia Cup.
Opponent
|
Opponent teams rank
|
Date
|
Result
|
Myanmar
|
165
|
March 6, 2013
|
Lost 1-0
|
Guam
|
177
|
March 4, 2013
|
Won 4-0
|
Chinese Taipei
|
176
|
March 2, 2013
|
Won 2-1
|
Palestine
|
150
|
February 6. 2013
|
Lost 4-2
|
Cameroon (B)
|
NA
|
September 2, 2012
|
Won 2 (4)vs. 2 (5)
|
The current national team coach,
Win Kovermans, has repeatedly reiterated the importance of playing international
matches in FIFA dates, but AIFF has failed to fulfill his requests. The other
major issue is the quality of opponents we face; all the 5 teams mentioned
above are ranked below India according to FIFA. Even a positive result against
them won’t help the rankings to come up, but it is definitely good to start
with.
The consistency of playing on
FIFA dates and increase in the ranking is important for many reasons. The
impact can be seen in three different forms:
- Investment: If we look at the current national team, they do not have any shirt sponsors. The corporate houses are not ready to invest because the team hardly plays any matches in international arena.
- Players: As per the rules of many European countries, players of lower ranked teams are not provided with a work permit. So as per the current ranking, Indian players cannot represent any European clubs.
- Team: Currently the national team squad spends very less time together and hence there seems to be very less coordination among players.
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| New national team jersey without sponsor |
India is about to play a friendly
against Tajikistan on 14th August, followed by SAFF cup in September
2013. So I hope the trend continues and AIFF start providing quality opponents
on every international FIFA dates. This move will also increase the viewership
for Indian football.
(I request everyone to watch
the match against Tajikistan and also support India in the SAFF cup.)
You have a very valid point. For Indian football to get any recognition, they need more coverage. But for more coverage, they need to do things that are newsworthy. Friendly matches with foreign countries sure as hell is a good start.
ReplyDeleteWell written but an already known fact....and the cry for more internationals has been from the tym of stephen constantine...Its just that clubs rule the AIFF and there is politics among players and states just like in cricket
ReplyDeleteNice read.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with akhila's point that friendly match with foreign countries will be the good start but Currently the national team squad spends very less time together and hence there seems to be very less coordination among players so how can they provide quality opponents?
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your work very thanks corona virus
ReplyDelete