India caught in reverse gear, draw with Sri Lanka exposes harsh fact

Here’s a #ThrowbackThursday trivia: on October 8, 2010, India rolled over Vietnam 3-1 in a world pleasant performed in Pune, with Sunil Chhetri – who else – scoring a hat-trick.
Eleven Octobers later, that match is an efficient reference level to grasp how far behind the Indian soccer crew has fallen.
The Ninety fifth-ranked Vietnam are actually nearer than ever to a World Cup spot. And India, positioned 107th, are unable to beat even their South Asian rivals in a match reserved for the laggards of world soccer.
India’s struggles had been magnified in opposition to a crew ranked 98 locations beneath them in FIFA rankings, Sri Lanka, on Thursday after they had been held to a goalless draw. This embarrassment was preceded by a 1-1 draw in opposition to a 10-men Bangladesh, ranked 189th, of their opening match of the SAFF Cup on Monday.
The blame, as anticipated, fell on the shoulders of coach Igor Stimac and it appears more and more probably that the Croatian will likely be proven the door if India don’t win this championship. It’s handy, nonetheless, to make the Croatian the scapegoat.
In 2011, the then India coach Bob Houghton had stated: “You can remove the coach and you can bring Guus Hiddink or Jose Mourinho tomorrow and you will still be (where you are).” Houghton, who was sacked unceremoniously and controversially quickly after, couldn’t have been extra spot on.
The attracts in opposition to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which got here shut on the heels of India’s failure to beat Nepal, ought to fairly function one other reminder of all that’s ailing Indian soccer, and the checklist is a protracted one.
More so, as a result of these outcomes aren’t one-off disappointments.
The draw in opposition to Bangladesh was the second time in three matches that India couldn’t beat their neighbours. At the membership degree, too, the indicators appear ominous. Last month, ATK Mohun Bagan suffered a drubbing by the hands of Uzbekistan’s Nasaf FC within the AFC Cup. Before that, Bengaluru FC exited within the group stage of the identical competitors, having did not beat Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings.
For ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru, the Asian competitions – which needs to be a high precedence – turned out to be a digital warm-up match, provided that they went into the video games with none aggressive matches for almost half-a-year due to India’s flawed home calendar.
“When FC Goa played in the Asian Champions League, they already had 20 games under their belt. The players were properly conditioned and that reflected in their performance,” says Indian soccer coach Pradhyum Reddy.
“The players last played a competitive match in March. So it’s tough to expect the players to be sharp when they play after such a long break. At the same time, we have to be realistic about where we stand and not feel entitled about beating Bangladesh or other teams like them. It’s not like we are consistently and comprehensively beating Bangladeshi or Maldivian teams in club competitions or at junior levels.”
Lack of matches
India have fielded 19 totally different beginning lineups underneath the helm of Igor Stimac. (File)
One of the most important crises that Indian soccer is dealing with is the shortage of recreation time for home gamers. The ISL is among the many shortest competitions on this planet. It ends at a stage when in most different leagues, it’s only a mid-way level of the season. The 11-team match lasts for simply 4 months, which is lower than even the Bangladesh Premier League – their 2021 season had 13 groups and lasted 9 months.
Other nations within the area, too, have leagues which are longer than India’s premier league. In Oman, every membership will get to play 26 video games over a span of 9 months. Top-division golf equipment in Qatar, the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, play 22 matches every of their Super League over eight months. In addition to the league, additionally they play a Cup competitors.
For business causes, India has not elevated the size of its high league and that’s proving to be detrimental for the general progress of the sport. Even in a brief season, the match time that Indian gamers get is hardly sufficient as managers, for whom outcomes are the final word precedence, are likely to make use of their greatest overseas signings in central areas of the pitch and goal-scoring positions.
Remember Komal Thatal, the scrawny winger who dazzled along with his fast, mazy runs within the Under-17 World Cup in 2017?
He performed simply 67 minutes in the entire of the 2020-21 season for ATK Mohun Bagan, managing simply 33 touches and 22 passes within the 5 appearances.
Thatal isn’t an exception.
Iranian star Sardar Azmoun, nicknamed the Asian Messi, had already made greater than a dozen appearances for Rubin Kazan by the point he turned 20 and clocked virtually 4,500 minutes with the nationwide crew from the under-17 degree to the senior aspect.
Indian gamers, be it the established ones within the nationwide crew or the younger promising stars, wrestle to get even half the quantity of taking part in time and in lots of instances, gamers have gone a complete yr with out a shot at objective, not to mention scoring one.
Consequently, after they play worldwide video games, they’re typically like a deer caught in headlights. More so, after they have performed lower than half a dozen significant matches in virtually six months.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has stated that from subsequent yr onwards, they are going to improve the matches and cut back the variety of foreigners within the Indian Super League (ISL) to provide Indian gamers extra alternatives.
Whether they really fulfill the promise is anyone’s guess.
Lessons from Vietnam
The scenario will get bleaker with age-group groups, the place the variety of matches will get fewer and fewer. This is the place the comparisons between India and Vietnam get attention-grabbing and inevitable.
Around 2014, each India and Vietnam had been struggling to get their premier leagues any traction and high golf equipment in each nations had been struggling to outlive.
India adopted a top-down method – internet hosting massive occasions and regarded for short-term fixes within the league with out correctly specializing in growing the grassroots.
India’s youth groups, from under-16 to under-23 haven’t completed something exceptional on the Asian degree. So, to out of the blue count on the identical, under-developed gamers to supply outcomes whereas taking part in for the senior nationwide crew appears a bit irrational.
Vietnam, however, didn’t do something miraculous. Instead, they made good use of FIFA grants, invested of their youth groups and remained affected person. Their focussed, long-term method gave rise to a golden technology of gamers that reached the finals of the Asian U-23 Championship and now type the core of the nationwide crew, which has reached the ultimate spherical of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

6 years, 66 debutants
An impatient search to seek out gamers who could make a distinction has led to an unprecedented 66 gamers making their worldwide debuts since 2015.
Stimac’s predecessor, Stephen Constantine was pragmatic in his method when he took cost seven years in the past. He oversaw the transition of an getting old crew, caught to a mode that wasn’t fairly however was efficient, which helped India to climb up the rankings ladder – from 171st place in 2015 to shut to top-100 now – and log just a few eye-popping performances.
Stimac, however, has typically come throughout as a person stabbing in the dead of night. He has modified his beginning 11 in every of the 19 matches India have performed underneath him. He has handed debuts to 21 gamers since his appointment in 2019 and the crew has gained simply thrice. Stimac is partially responsible of the instability inside the taking part in group.
But the larger failure of these in command of Indian soccer is their incapability to develop top-quality gamers, thus forcing them to fall again on Chhetri again and again.
Chhetri was 26 when he scored the hat-trick in opposition to Vietnam in 2010 and led India to a 3-1 win. In the 11 years which have adopted, India has pumped in tons of of crores, established a brand new league, fashioned brand-new groups and tried 66 new gamers in six years however Chhetri, now 37, continues to be just about the one man scoring targets which are sparing the nationwide crew, the coaches and the AIFF blushes.
His targets have papered over the cracks for years. On the opposite hand, Vietnam, who’ve zoomed previous India on the again of their golden technology, have the World Cup inside their sights.