Team India: Unrealistic expectations???

The closer the 2011 AFC Asian Cup is getting the worse the results seem to be getting for Bob Houghton and his boys as the team starts to regularly play higher ranked nations. But what did we, the people who closely follow Team India and the fans expect? India would go to the Asian Cup and do a Greece at Euro2004 or Iraq at the 2007 Asian Cup.

Now if we just look at the bare statistics then it should be clear to us that at the Asian Cup this time around there is no bigger underdog then India. We are by far the lowest ranked team taking part in the tournament with the least experience at this level of continental competitions. And we did not qualify through the regular qualifiers, but through the back door which is the AFC Challenge Cup, the tier two tournament for Asian nations. And then we were drawn into the Group of Death which includes Australia, South Korea and Bahrain; who are No. 1, 3 & 6 in the Asian rankings.

I know many will not like it, but our only aim in Qatar should be the Olympic spirit, "We are happy to be a part of this event." Then anything more would be a bonus! I remember I was talking to friends last year after the second Nehru Cup win, even before the Asian Cup draws had been made, that the Asian Cup will be a totally different competition for India. The level is much higher and against the best in Asia we can still lose by five, six goals like we have done over the last decade to Japan and Saudi Arabia. Even extensive training and more exposure might not be able to change that as we can't catch-up what has been done wrong for many decades in Indian football.

But still international exposure and match practice is needed. One shouldn't talk just about the costs involved and it shouldn't be a luxury but a normal thing for Indian footballers to train abroad and get top class facilities. I remember April 2001 when Baichung Bhutia had to pick a verbal fight with the AIFF top brass to give the whole team top class accommodation. Luckily those days are gone, but still India is at a development stage, in a transitional phase, where loads of work has to go into youth development and the structure of youth teams which Bob Houghton and Colin Toal have put in place over the last few years. We will need another three to five years to hopefully get the desired results and another younger generation to come up.

Team selection. I don't really see any alternatives to the current squad except maybe one or two, but even then these boys would only be bench potential and not playing eleven to start with. The much hyped Under-23 boys played well in the Asian Games under Sukhvinder Singh, but did in the end also lose 0-5 against a weakened Japanese Under-21 team. And this to me puts everything into perspective, then the Asian Cup isn't a level of competition where you just throw in youngsters. It could haunt them for the rest of their careers and that is surely not what we would like to see.

And then there is the issue of PIOs. Something which I have been pushing for for nearly a decade. Now a quality PIO in English born PIO Michael Chopra wants to play for us and could be a great asset, no matter what he said a few years back. We need quality and can't be picking the cheries.

Also I now understand after the latest international friendly results why Bob always insisted of wanting to have a gradual development progress since winning the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup with his team. He knew his boys weren't ready to face bigger opposition and still seems not to be. I can only hope Bob is able to rectify some of the basic mistakes committed and get his key players back from injury.

Then I am still hoping for the best, but being realistic and pragmatic, not day dreaming, getting even a point in Qatar would be a huge success for India as it would mean we have drawn one of our three matches against those Asian heavyweights. And I call on all of you to support Bob, Baichung and the rest of the boys. They need it and lets stand by their side whatever the result.

Sorry the above might sound very pessimistic, but lets not fool ourselves what awaits us in Qatar.