Hats off to Mr Houghton for making Indian Football lively as the 60's when India was a name to reckon in Asia. The Govt of India should encourage the Team and the Coach with excellent infrastructure and Benifits. Jacob Francis, Trichur, Kerala.
RE:Indian Football is Shinning
by vsgiri on Aug 23, 2007 02:19 PM
A couple of years ago the EastBengal football team by winning an inconsequential cup in Indonesia created anatmosphere as if the Team has done somethingextraordinary and grabbed huge monetary benefits fromthe central exchequer although the real picture came out within a few days when the same team lost by ahuge margin to another team from India. The AIIFpresident( who almost has become permanent Presidentof the body ) has taken every effort year after yearto bring third grade teams from outside the country at the cost of the exchequer particularly to pleasepeople of his state who pretend to have knowledge ofthe game as if others in India are fools. The game will never improve unless it becomes broad based andpeople from other states are made to take it from school level by compulsion . AIIF has become a privateproperty of this group from Bengal and they have done everything to retain the status thereby bringing down the game to it%u2019s lowest possible state.
RE:Indian Football is Shinning
by Ganpat Rai on Aug 23, 2007 07:42 PM
I have only one thing to say.... As long as India considers "defeating Bangladesh by one goal" to be a great achievement in football, it will NEVER progress in the FIFA rankings.
RE:Indian Football is Shinning
by sudarshan chat on Aug 23, 2007 04:23 PM
Friend, I think we are way way far from the 60's scenario. Even a year back India was close to the 120 rank and abt 5-6 yrs back the line they even made it within the top 100. Till now India has only played lowly ranked teams. For that fact, even Syria shouldnot be that much of a challenge for India. I think it would only be a on-par performance if India wins this tourney. So it is too early to pass any comment on Mr Houghton. The only thing I would say is, he should be given time to build up his team. Not like previous foreign coaches ( like Akramov) who were terminated before time by the authorities based on a few performances.
