In the final in Colombo, India lost to Maldives, a team that is placed several rungs below it in the FIFA rankings. But for a change, back home there were no attempts to find scapegoats, writes S. R. Suryanarayan.
India surrendered its premier position in South Asian football by losing to Maldives in the final of the SAFF Cup in Colombo recently. While the victory triggered nation-wide celebrations in Maldives, the outcome hardly provoked any introspection in India.
Defeating India is a big achievement for Maldives, but to have done it in the title clash of a championship that is acknowledged as the premier football tournament in the South Asian region was an outstanding feat for a team that is placed several rungs below India in the FIFA rankings.
Even as Maldives celebrated the dawn of a new era in its sports history - many perceive the SAFF Cup victory as the country's finest moment in sports - in India, for a change, there were no attempts to find scapegoats.
"Injuries to key players and just one bad day in office" seemed to be the consensus if the views of experts were anything to go by. Key players such as Mahesh Gawli, Stephen Dias and Renedy Singh were injured and this affected the team's make-up. That India's coach, Bob Houghton, ever unhappy with the way the Indian clubs come in the way of national interests, was unable to effect more than one substitution in the final was a reflection of India's poor bench strength.
As former international Syed Sabir Pasha, who was once part of In dia's winning streak in this championship, put it, "the sight of Samir Naik and Bungo Singh playing in the wings was a clear sign that this Indian team was short on resources. Maldives has been rapidly improving and they exploited the situation well."
Still the question remains, how did a second-string Indian team beat Maldives earlier in the league? Or for that matter, what happened in the semifinal where India struggled against Bhutan, an unknown force till this edition? Fortunately, Gourmangi saved India's blushes with a late goal.
Going by the number of chances that India missed in various matches of the tournament, one thing is clear: Inconsistency has not been India's strength. N. P. Pradeep, for all the wonderful goals he had scored, missed many in the match against Bhutan, while Sunil Chetri and Bhaichung Bhutia could hardly get along.
"The problem with our approach is that we do not stand up to our strength but invariably allow ourselves to come down to the level of our opponents and that is where we slip," said Pasha, reflecting on India's defeat.
Pasha seems to have a point here if one were to take into account India's performance ahead of the SAFF Cup, the friendly matches against Chinese Taipei for instance. India beat the visitors hands down in the first match in Goa, but struggled to force a draw in the second game in Chennai after being down twice.
The former players, however, were of the view that the defeat to Maldives was just "one of those bad days in office." Jayanta Sen, a former Bengal captain, said: "every team has slumps. India won the Nehru Cup last year as most players showed good form and now in the SAFF Cup, the team could not gel properly on that day."
However Krishnendu Roy, a former international, felt that everything boiled down to the quality of the players. "Players know that even an average performance would get them a good break (contract) in a club and this kills the quality of a player. People talk of stopping tournaments but something must be done to ensure that players play to their ability," he said.
It is an irony that Indian football should continue to remain so low at a time when the Asian Football Confederation has been propagating Vision Asia with the focus on India. Where does the fault lie? "Absence of a proper grooming system," said former India captain Biswajit Bhattacharya.
Rendey Singh, a current international player, pointed to a non-existent youth development programme. "We have to admit that our neighbours are developing faster. Even the tiny Maldives spends a lot of money on football development. There is money in our club football but this does not compensate for a lack of football infrastructure, in particular availability of good grounds," he said.
According to Habibur Rehman Mondal, a former international, another major factor for the poor state of Indian football was the issue of "players' burnout in the face of a tight schedule."
Talking of India's defeat in the final of the SAFF Cup, there is also the question of how prepared it was for the tournament. Victor Amalraj, a veteran of many internationals, was of the view that Maldives had done its homework better than India.
A touch of over-confidence could also have been a reason for India's downfall, he said.
A match that went on an even keel for the best part turned Maldives' way in the 87th minute. Muktar Nasser's brilliant 25-yard shot left India goalkeeper Subrata Pal high and dry. The Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo was filled with Maldivian supporters, led by the country's president, Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom, himself and none left disappointed.
The tournament was jointly hosted by Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh were the other countries who took part in the tournament.
(With inputs from Amitabha Das Sharma and Abhijit Sengupta)
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