Rs 25,000 Cash Award for India U-16 Boys!

The India Under-16 boys after qualifying for the AFC Under-16 Championships next year have received a lot of praise from different quarters for their achievements in Tashkent. The U-16 boys beat Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain and Tajikistan to finish second behind hosts Uzbekistan, the only team which our boys lost.

The All India Football Federation has announced a Cash Prize of Rs. 25,000 each for the India Under-16 boys and the support staff who qualified for the AFC Under-16 Championship's Final Phase.

The AIFF President Praful Patel congratulated the boys and the Head Coach of Youth Development Colm Toal on this achievement. "There is clear indication that Indian football is moving ahead. We beat some of the best teams in Asia to qualify for the Final Phase," he said in a statement.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das also lauded the boys by saying, "I congratulate the boys and Colm Toal for the way he has been nurturing our Youth Development Teams, which is now yielding results. I am very optimistic that our current initiative with FIFA for setting up Regional and Elite Academies will go a long way in taking Indian football to the next level."

India U-16 Boys win 2-1 against Bahrain!

The India Under-16 boys scored a crucial 2-1 win against Bahrain in the qualifiers for the AFC Under-16 Championship. With India having come to Tashkent with the aim to qualify for the final round, the win could be vital in the end calculations to achieve that goal.
In the day's other game the hosts Uzbekistan also trashed Kyrgyzstan 7-0 to open their account on a positive note.

India continued where they had left off against Kyrgyzstan, but the youngsters couldn't find the back of the net; while against the run of play Bahrain took a 21st minute lead through a Redha Marhoon strike. The Middle Eastern side took the one goal cushion into the break as India controlled proceedings but simply couldn't score.

After the break things changed as India got a deserving equaliser through a Raja Rawat strike in the 50th minute, but then captain Lalramzuava hit a penalty against the crossbar in the 54th minute to deny India the lead after Daniel Lalhlimpuia had been brought down inside the box. It would come in the 73rd minute through a Myron Mendes penalty, who took the attempt in-place of captain Lalramzuava. And that would be the winner for India U-16 as it was a historic win against though opposition.

India remain top of their qualification group, but the next couple of games will decide if India qualify for the finals or have to go home empty handed.

In their next game on October 5 India take on the hosts Uzbekistan and a positive result could somewhat ensure the passage to the finals of the AFC Under-16 Championships.


India
1-Supratim Bhattacharjee; 2-Myron Mendes, 6-Nabin Rabha, 4-Sajid Dhot, 5-Sarthak Golui; 7-Nitin Jyal (53' 12-Lalrammuana), 14-Raja Rawat, 22-Harmanjot Singh (90' 3-Suman Saha), 15-Lalramzuava [C]; 9-Uttam Rai, 10-Daniel Lalhlimpuia (77' 11-Vanlalduatsanga)

India U-16 Team announced, leaves for Qualifiers

The all India Football Federation has named a 23 player Under-16 national team for the AFC Under-16 Qualifiers in which our boys face hosts Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bahrain and Kyrgyzstan in Group C.

The team leaves for Tashkent tomorrow to face tough opposition from Central Asia and a Middle Eastern side in Bahrain. The top two teams qualify for the final rounds.

The team have been practising at Conscient School at the Heritage School Ground in Gurgaon since September 14. Besides being appreciative about the practice facilities, Coach Thomas Joseph said, “We have a good team and we have practised hard for the event. Uzbekistan are the hosts and stay the strong contenders. I'd say we have a 50-50 chance.”


India Under-16s fixtures in Tashkent
October 1: India vs Kyrgyzstan (16.00 local) 16.30 IST
October 3: India vs Bahrain (16.00 local) 16.30 IST
October 5: Uzbekistan vs India (11.30 local) 12.00 IST
October 7: India vs Tajikistan (11.30 local) 12.00 IST


INDIA Under-16

Goalkeepers
Avinash Rao, Agaipal Singh, Supratim Bhattacharya

Defenders
Myron Mendes, Maiban Jimmy Singh, Suman Saha, Sajid Dhot, Sarthak Golui, Rahul S., Nabin Rabha, Gurba Gagri

Midfielders
Alen Deory, Harmanjot Singh, Nitin Jyal, Germanpreet Singh, K. Lalramzuava, Lalrammuana, Raja Rawat, Geremsha Basumatary

Forwards
Kamalpreet Singh, Daniel Lalhimpuia, Laldantsanga, Uttam Rai

Officials
Thomas Joseph (Coach), Chalil Melay Renjith (Coach-cum-Manager), Bitan Singh (Assistant Coach), Auguiar Luis Mario (Goalkeeping Coach), Sampath Babu (Physio)

India Women win three match series against Bahrain

The Indian women's national team has won the three match series 2-1 against Bahrain, which has been much needed exposure for our women's team. The three matches were held on September 17, 20 and 23 all in Manama, Bahrain.

The final match of the series was played last night, but not as the earlier two matches at the Al Ahli Club Stadium but at the National Stadium. The match kicked-off two hours late due to the venue change and heavy traffic congestion across the kingdom. The first session ended goalless though Bahrain had a penalty, but Reem Al Hashemi missed the target.

In the second session India took the lead when striker Pinky Bompal Magar scored in the 69th minute, while Parmashori Devi doubled the lead lead only three minutes later. Bahrain reduced the deficit in the 81st minute through Mona Al Daesi, but India ensured their win through a 86th minute Kamala Devi strike. The match ended 3-1 in favour for India.

In the opening match of the series India had won 2-1 through two goals from captain Sasmita Mallick, who missed the second game; while Bahrain had scored through Reem Al Hashemi. The second match had been won by Bahrain 2-0 through goals from Deena Abdulrahman and Manar Ebrahim.

Coach Chief Coach Mohammad Shahid Jabbar sounded ecstatic on the victory. "The victory proves our girls are not lagging behind. We had an eventful camp in Lucknow and the results are showing."

Captain Sasmita Malik said, "It feels great when you win an International Series. The team spirit was high all throughout and facilitated our victory. We capitalised on the chances that came our way."

Below the India Women's squad which toured Bahrain.


INDIA Women's

Goalkeepers
Sita Sharma, Usharani Das, Swarnamayee Samal

Defenders
Ashem Romi Devi, Gurumayum Radharani Devi, Loitongbam Ashalata Devi, Rashmita Patra, Alochana Senapati, Bijay Laxmi Sahoo, Suprava Samal, Tuli Goon

Midfielders
Yumnam Kamala Devi, Yumlembem Premi Devi, Supriya Routray, Paramita Sit, Sharon Fernandes, Nameirakpam Montessori Chanu, Nosaba Alam

Forwards
Irom Parmeshwari Devi, Nima Lamhu Bhutia, Laishram Naobi Chanu, Pinky Bompal Magar, Sasmita Malik (captain)

Officials
Mohammad Shahid Jabbar (Head Coach), Pratima Biswas (Assistant Coach), Shukla Dutta (Assistant Coach), Chitra Gangadharan (Goalkeeping Coach), Kruti Marolia (Physiotherapist), Indu Chaudhary (Manager)

Indian Women to Tour Bahrain for three match series

The All India Football Federation has finalised a 23 player squad of the Indian Women's national football team for their exposure trip to Bahrain where the team will be playing three international friendlies. Orissa's Sasmita Malik has been named captain of the team.

The three matches will be held on September 17, 20 and 23 all at the Al Ahli Club Stadium in Manama with all of the games set to kick-off at 20.30 h local time.

The 43 probables had been sweating it out in Lucknow under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Mohammad Shahid Jabbar and his support staff for a rare opportunity for the Indian's women team to play international friendlies abroad.

Coach Jabbar said, "The girls are up for the challenge. We have trained hard and hope to perform well."


INDIA Women's

Goalkeepers
Sita Sharma, Usharani Das, Swarnamayee Samal

Defenders
Ashem Romi Devi, Gurumayum Radharani Devi, Loitongbam Ashalata Devi, Rashmita Patra, Alochana Senapati, Bijay Laxmi Sahoo, Suprava Samal, Tuli Goon

Midfielders
Yumnam Kamala Devi, Yumlembem Premi Devi, Supriya Routray, Paramita Sit, Sharon Fernandes, Nameirakpam Montessori Chanu, Nosaba Alam

Forwards
Irom Parmeshwari Devi, Nima Lamhu Bhutia, Laishram Naobi Chanu, Pinky Bompal Magar, Sasmita Malik (captain)

Officials
Mohammad Shahid Jabbar (Head Coach), Pratima Biswas (Assistant Coach), Shukla Dutta (Assistant Coach), Chitra Gangadharan (Goalkeeping Coach), Kruti Marolia (Physiotherapist), Indu Chaudhary (Manager)

India's lessons from the Asian Cup

The 2011 AFC Asian Cup is history, but for India the tournament marked the return to the continental stage after 27 long years. And there are important lessons for Indian football to take from it, work on them and try to qualify again for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia to show Asia that our football is developing and progressing.


Tournament matches isn't preparatory games

Many had worried that after the bad results in the run-up to the Asian Cup that India could get trashed by continental heavyweights such as Australia, Bahrain and South Korea. Surely we did get beaten by clear margins, but in none of the matches were we totally outplayed as in some of the preparatory matches. Plus the boys always gave their opponents a real fight and the sign of this are the three goals which we scored.


Continue to play international friendlies

Finally India played a number of international friendlies. From September to November 2010 we played more international friendly matches then in the last decade. Surely the results weren't the best, but what can you expect from a team which normally faces south Asian rivals, some better sides in the Nehru Cup every two years or local club sides wherever they train. We need to play five/six friendlies over the year 2011 to maintain that momentum and the level of exposure. And maybe even think about having a marquee match once a year against tougher opposition from Asia or even from Europe and South America.


International experience

The Asian Cup was international exposure for Team India at a new, much higher then their usual level. It showed that we lacked that international experience, e.g. in the game against Bahrain where we got the equaliser and went all out to get the second goal, but somewhat forgot to defend. This is all part of the learning process, which will help the team progress in the future.


Importance of AFC Challenge Cup

Only due to the fact that India won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup we were able to qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. If we had to qualify through the qualifiers we would have never made it to these continental championships. So the focus of the AIFF and Team India needs to be on the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, if we don't win it next year then we have another chance in 2014 to get to Australia.


Great fan support

India had great fan support in Doha! I would go on to say that we had the best fans in the Asian Cup with over 10,000 Indian fans coming to the three games on average. Especially delightful was to see our fans turn up in numbers for the last game against South Korea after the team was out and it was also raining heavily. This fan base which is there to support and watch Team India needs to be nurtured around the world.


International media exposure

Whatever Indian football does over the year it gets little to no international media coverage. At the Asian Cup we were one of the most covered national sides simply for the exotic factor and India developing so rapidly as an economic power. The global media genuinely wanted to know more about our football, which is a good sign even though the problems were touched on by Bob Houghton and the players. If it had been different then surely we would have been regularly playing Asian Cup.

India go down fighting against Bahrain

Team India went down fighting against Bahrain in their second Group C match at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. The team from the Gulf in the end won 5-2 against India at the Al Sadd Stadium. And once more it was a home game for the Bhangra Boys as most of the 11032 spectators were Indians.

After the Australia match where all had said that India gave a good account of themselves especially in their defensive play though we were not present in attack last night it was the other way around. India upfront, especially Sunil Chhetri, gave a good account of themselves with left winger Renedy Singh the pick of the players in midfield; but the defence and Subrata Pal committed some unneeded mistakes which allowed the Bahrainis to walk away winners.

India started off brightly as they weren't as scared going into this game like they were against Australia with Sunil Chhetri having a early header cleared by the Bahraini keeper. Climax Lawrence would bring down Faouzi Aaish and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Aaish would himself take the penalty and send Subrata Pal the wrong way, but India weren't just beaten yet as only a minute later a Renedy freekick was headed on by Abhishek Yadav to Gouramangi Singh, who headed in for India. And the stadium was going berserk as India had scored their first goal of the tournament.

At this stage India got a little carried away as they tried to go ahead, while Bahrain had to simply wait for Indian mistakes especially their striker Ismaeel Abdulatif who scored a first half hattrick. It was 4-1 at halftime and around me the Indian journos were worried that we could fall apart like we did in a friendly against Kuwait.

But after the break India would once more get on the score sheet in controversial fashion. Renedy Singh would take a brilliant long-ranger which went over the line, but the referee nor linesman gave it as a goal, Abhishek can't push it over but Chhetri is there to head home. Actually Renedy's goal was exactly a case like Frank Lampard's goal against Germany at last years FIFA World Cup.

Once more the crowds were there to support India and push our team forward. Bahrain weakened themselves as goalscorer Faouzi Aaish would get two quick yellow cards to be send off. Now it seemed if India got the 4-3 then anything was possible. India did push, but didn't get that vital third goal as Bahrain would the match through Abdulatif's fourth goal of the night.

After the game Bob Houghton told me that he was proud of his boys especially the way they came back in the second session after going into the break 4-1 down. And we agreed that India got a little too ambitious after getting the one-all equaliser, going for the kill rather then playing a wait and watch game.

Injured captain Baichung Bhutia was a proud man. He was very happy with the performance, but disappointed that India couldn't get a better result on the night.

India are now out of the tournament, but face mighty South Korea in their final group match. Which is another highlight for many players and for some it could be their final international game as retirements are likely to come from the senior players.

VIDEO: Bahrain vs. India highlights

Here are the highlights of the Bahrain vs. India match at the Al Sadd Stadium in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup:

India face tough Bahrain test

Next up for India at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup are Bahrain, who lost their opening game 1-2 against the mighty South Koreans. And it will be another tough task for Bob Houghton's boys.

At the pre-match conference Bob Houghton said that he would make some changes to his playing eleven due to the physical workload on his players. And when I asked him who he plans to replace Bob said he didn't want to disclose the names so much ahead of the game. If I would be asked then it looks likely that Mohammed Rafi would make way upfront for Abhishek Yadav while Renedy Singh would come in for Deepak Mondal on the left with Syed Rahim Nabi dropping to the left back position, if not then Mahesh Gawli could replace Deepak.

Talking about Baichung Bhutia Bob said there was no chance of Baichung playing against Bahrain, if at all then a few minutes against South Korea.

Talking about the importance of the tournament Bob Houghton said, "We hope that the Asian Cup will be a watershed for Indian football. We hope the fact we've got here will make people sit up and realise how great it is to be here in Qatar, in a continental tournament. The fact we're here and people are watching us - apparently the game tomorrow is sold out - shows that, if we can make football good in India, we can get interest from people there."

And once more the topic of Indian football's problems came-up at the press conference with the lack of infrastructure, quality coaching and to some extend the lack of vision mentioned.

Bahrain meanwhile know that India will be a tough nut to crack as they need a win against the South Asians to stay in the tournament after their loss against South Korea. But India's spirited second half performance allowing the Aussies only one goal did worry the Bahraini coach Salman Sharida, who has coached Pakistan in the past and therefore has some knowledge about India.

Lets hope for a good game and a close result which would help Indian football...

Asian Cup: India's opponents name their squad

India's opponents in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup - Australia, South Korea and Bahrain - have all named their 23 players squad for the tournament set to kick off on January 7 in Qatar. India face Australia in their opening match on January 10, while taking on Bahrain on January 14 before their final group game against South Korea on January 18.

The tougher opponents will be Australia and South Korea, who both will be missing their key strikers. The Aussies will be missing tall Joshua Kennedy, who plays for Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan; while the South Korean will miss AS Monaco's Chu-Young Park, one of their star performers in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


AUSTRALIA

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham FC, England); Nathan Coe (Sønderjysk Elitesport, Denmark); Brad Jones (Liverpool FC, England)

Defenders: David Carney, (Blackpool FC, England); Jon McKain (Al Nasr, Saudi Arabia); Lucas Neill (Galatasaray Istanbul, Turkey); Jade North (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand); Sasa Ognenovski (Seongnam Ilhwa, South Korea); Matthew Spiranovic (Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan); Luke Wilkshire (FK Dinamo Moscow, Russia)

Midfielders: Jason Culina (Gold Cost United, Australia); Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, England); Richard Garcia (Hull City AFC, England); Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands); Mile Jedinak (Genclerbirligi SK, Turkey); Harry Kewell (Galatasaray Istanbul, Turkey), Neil Kilkenny (Leeds United, England); Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar, Australia); Carl Valeri (US Sassuolo Calcio, Italy)

Forwards: Nathan Burns (AEK Athens, Greece); Tim Cahill (Everton FC, England); Robbie Kruse (Melbourne Victory, Australia); Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough FC, England)

Coach: Hogler Osieck


SOUTH KOREA

Goalkeepers: Sung-Ryong Jung (Seongnam Ilhwa, South Korea), Yong-Dae Kim (FC Seoul, South Korea), Jin-Hyeon Kim (Cerezo Osaka, Japan)

Defenders: Hyo-Jin Choi (Sangju Sangmu, South Korea), Jae-Won Hwang (Suwon Bluewings, South Korea), Yong-Hyung Cho (Al-Rayyan, Qatar), Tae-Hwi Kwak (Kyoto Sanga, Japan), Yong-Rae Lee (Suwon Bluewings, South Korea), Young-Pyo Lee (Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabia), Jung-Soo Lee (Al-Sadd, Qatar), Jeong-Ho Hong (Jeju United, South Korea), Du-Ri Cha (Celtic Glasgow, Scotland)

Midfielders: Ji-Sung Park (Captain; Manchester United, England), Bit-Garam Yoon (Gyeongnam FC, South Korea), Heung-Min Son (Hamburger SV, Germany), Ja-Cheol Koo (Jeju United, South Korea), Sung-Yueng Ki (Celtic Glasgow, Scotland), Chung-Yong Lee (Bolton Wanderers, England), Bo-Kyung Kim (Cerezo Osaka, Japan), Ki-Hun Yeom (Suwon Bluewings, South Korea)

Forwards: Byung-Soo Yoo (Incheon United, South Korea), Dong-Won Ji (Chunnam Dragons, South Korea), Shin-Wook Kim (Ulsan Hyundai, South Korea)

Coach: Kwang-Rae Cho


BAHRAIN

Goalkeepers: 1-Mahmood Mansoor Ali Abdulla, 21-Ahmed Ali Ahmed Ali Mushaima, 22-Abbas Ahmed Ali Khamis

Defenders: 2-Rashed Khalil Ebrahim Talha Khalil Alhooti, 3-Abdulla Abdurrahmn Mohammed Marzooq, 5-Saleh Abdulhameed Saleh Mohamed Mahmeedi, 6-Abbas Saeed Ali Mansoor Ayyad, 16-Dawood Saad Salman Mohamed Saad, 17-Husain Ali Hasan Ali Mohamed, 23-Ebrahim Ali Hasan Meshkhas

Midfielders: 4-Abdulla Bab Fatadi, 7-Hamad Rakea Humood Alanezi, 9-Abdulwahab A Rahman Hedaib Isa Ali Almalood, 10-Mohamed Ahmed Yusuf Salmeen, 12-Faouzi Mubarak Aaish, 13-Mahmood Abdulrahman Mohamed Noor Abdulrahman, 14-Salman Isa Ghuloom Ali, 15-Abdulla Ismaeel Omar, 18-Abdulwahab Ali Abdulwahab Husain Alsafi, 19-Mahmood Merza Mahdi Ahmed Alajmi

Forwards: 8-Jaycee John Okwunwanne, 11-Ismaeel Abdullatif Ismaeel Hasan, 20-Abdulla Adnan Saleh Salman Aldakeel

Coach: Salman Sharida

Togo plays in Bahrain, but not their national team

Some of you will have read about the story that one of India's opponents in the 2011 Asian Cup, Bahrain hosted African side Togo in an international friendly in Manama on September 7. The side from the Gulf won 3-0 against a poor Togolese side, so questions about Togo came-up and thereafter the news came out in the international media that Bahrain faced a team which was actually not the Togo national team nor any other official side sanctioned by the Togo Football Federation.

Bahrain is said to have paid the Togo FF and the involved match agent fees in the region of 500,000 US Dollar for the game. And it has become a major embarrassment for both Bahrain and Togo. Especially the Africans are now trying to put the puzzle together on who were the men behind the team, who were the players and who was paid the money.

Former Togo national coach Tchanile Bana, who is said to be one of the masterminds behind the scandal, is now 'on the run' according to Col. Damehane Yark, commander of the Togolese National Paramilitary Gendarmerie. Bana has openly stated he recruited the unknown Togolese players for the fraud team and he has already been banned for three years for to his involvement.

Football in Togo is already in turmoil as the Togolese Football Federation was last December dissolved by FIFA and an interim panel was installed until a new body could be elected. Those elections are set for October 16, in a few weeks' time. Also the real Togo national team had been attacked in January 2010 on their way to the African Cup of Nations in Angola.

The Togo Sports Minister Christopher Chao has ordered an investigation into the matter and first arrests have been made. Two men were arrested on Thursday for their involvement, the former sports minister and member of Togo FA interim committee Antoine Folly and the TFF's administration secretary Mamadou Doucoure. More arrests are likely to follow.

A really bizarre story, but it sadly isn't the first time that an African country is involved in something like this. I remember a story a few years ago about a match between Zimbabwe and El Salvador in Harare and the central American side wasn't the national team, some players weren't even footballers.

India's tough continental comeback

India's return to the continental stage will be tough as the Indian national team has been drawn in Group C along with South Korea, Australia and Bahrain.

The draw for the final round of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup was held on Friday, April 23 at the impressive Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The 16 teams who will take part were drawn in four groups of four teams each.

The 15th edition of the continental championships will be played from January 7 to 29, 2011. The schedule of matches will be announced on April 26.

India returns to the continental stage after a gap of 27 years. India last played in the 1984 Asian Cup in Singapore, but had then finished last in their group behind China, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

India will face two World Cup playing sides in South Korea and Australia, who will be seen in action this summer, while Bahrain only missed out being in South Africa due a playoff loss to New Zealand.

One can also have a look at the latest Asian rankings. Australia are the number 1 team, South Korea are third, while Bahrain sixth and India are 22nd amongst 46 ranked nations.

Out of the four groups, Group C looks the toughest with onlookers expecting India to play no role at all in this group. And maybe this is India's chance to cause the one or the other upset.

For the further development of the game in India a good result in Qatar is crucial, but an impossible ask for captain Baichung Bhutia and his team. But losing all three matches, even by big margins will hamper the progress of the beautiful game in India.

Still home advantage away from home could help India. With many migrant workers in Qatar and neighbouring Gulf States India could be the second best supported side in the tournament, while a number of Indian football fans plan to travel to Qatar. And the two Nehru Cup victories plus the AFC Challenge Cup title have shown that the team can perform under pressure, but this type of competition will be much tougher then in the recent past.

Indian national coach Bob Houghton had said before the draw that India would have to face tough competition due to being the lowest ranked team in the competition, but he would have hoped for something a little easier.

"Australia and Korea are two teams any coach would want to avoid being drawn alongside his team. The ranking itself speaks about the difference in standards. Bahrain also are good. Still we'll try to put up the best effort," Houghton said after the draw.

Team India players after the draw have all said that it is a tough draw but the matches would have to be played first and they would give everything to get a positive result.

India's preparations for the tournament will continue in July with the national team staying together until the Asian Cup in January 2011.

Coach Bob Houghton will be taking the team to Portugal in July/August for a preparatory camp and exposure trip before continuing to prepare the team in India and the Gulf. Numerous friendly games are being planed to prepare the team for the tough tasks ahead.

With the groups now out, India will be looking to play friendly games against higher ranked Asian sides in the coming months. Matches against Bryan Robson coached Thailand are planed for September 4 and 8.


The Groups

Group A: Qatar, Kuwait, China, Uzbekistan

Group B: Saudi Arabia, Japan, Jordan, Syria

Group C: Korea Republic, India, Australia, Bahrain

Group D: Iraq, North Korea, United Arab Emirates, Iran