I joined Nani to talk about the future of Indian football. With tight budgets, Indian clubs find themselves in a fix and with older players being part of the national side, things don't look bright for Indian football at the moment. Discussion on news like Ariel Ortega, the man who was supposed to be the 'next Maradona', arriving on the Indian club scene. What are the chances of international stars joining Indian clubs? How much will Indian football benefit? And reminiscing a bit on JCT, the club that was.
Dhiman Sarkar of Hindustan Times joined Vikram Nanivadekar and myself to talk about the growing concern surrounding the progress or lack of it in the Mecca of Indian football - Kolkata. This is the second part of the Goan football vs Kolkata football discussion we started off with the preceding episode.
It is an essential topic of discussion because Kolkata football teams arguably remain the most popular names in the country but Goan teams have been winning the tag of Champions in recent years. Cup titles are still not rare for Kolkata clubs. Yet, only one manages to end in the top-5 in the difficult I-League, & two finish second-last & last in the I-League second division round.
Even a team going through a bad patch - say Mohun Bagan on recent form - can draw thousands to the ground for a local game. Yet, it is difficult to name even one local talent of any meaningful stature to have come through the ranks.
The crowd support turns into a dead weight of expectations, the media interest becomes haunting, the ancient officials refuse to change and the guillotine above the coaches and the players forbids stability from setting in.
After a range of interesting points are raised, Dhiman offers an easy solution to allow the football in the state regain its glory. Otherwise, in the absence of a learned approach towards the game, the emergence of other footballing power-centres in the country & the change in social habits, the future of Kolkata football looks bleak indeed.
Kolkata & Goa share the love for two F words: fish & football. The names that flash across the mind immediately on the mention of football in India are East Bengal & Mohun Bagan (not necessarily in that order). However, the fact is that Goan teams that have ruled the roost & sustained the tag of India's champions in the last several years. The state seems to attract the best talent, the best coaches, the top goal scorers. In Kolkata, something must be amiss somewhere. We are trying to put a finger on it.
In this one we have Mark Rodricks with us as the Goa expert for the Goa side of things. Mark is a FA level 1 licensed coach, plying his trade in Pune. We plan to penetrate into Kolkata football in the next episode.
I join Nani from Zurich, the venue for the FIFA presidential election. Football lovers from around the world are shocked and concerned after news reports which announced that some FIFA officials received bribes for handing out World Cup bids. In this short podcast, we give a ground zero update from the media centre.
Nani and myself have a special today in a very personal chat with Horst Wein.
Horst Wein is a renowned name in field hockey as well as football across continents. Horst was engulfed in hockey through the 1970's, till mid-80's, coaching national teams (Germany, Spain) at important events like the Olympics. A chance meeting with football officials at FC Barcelona resulted in Horst turning his attention to football. Since then, Horst has authored several books and released DVDs on the topic of developing youth into quality players aimed at the trainers/coaches of young teens.
What started with coaching the coaches at FC Barcelona soon expanded to some other important clubs in Europe. Horst now distributes his method & knowledge to coaches of youngsters from Guatemala to Finland & everywhere in between & on the sides.
We had the good fortune of not just chatting with Horst Wein but also watching his famed training sessions with young teens on his recent trip to Mumbai. What brought him to Mumbai was the association with Kenkre Football Academy with the help of Arunava Chaudhuri.
It is difficult to finish listening to someone who has experience spread over several decades and geography. And, what’s more, we found Horst Wein to be an absolutely charming man, full of energy and lots of stories. We have tried to capture the essence of Horst’s training methods in this podcast. We inquire whether or how his methods are relevant in the Indian scenario & his opinion on the appropriate coach for the Indian national football team. It is a must listen for any student of football.
Nani and myself cover a lot of topics related to Indian football in the latest the Sportsbench Podcast. Finally with the 'resignation' of Bob Houghton as Indian national football team coach, a saga that was increasingly turning distasteful has ended. Discussed are possible replacements and the importance of setting up of or following the system that Houghton set up over the last five years, because India is struggling from the development perspective as well. Meanwhile, the I-league is in a very interesting phase & 2nd Division I-League has also surprisingly emerged as a fiercely contested competition. This podcast covers a bit on the teams in these two groups.
I joined Nani to talk about the future of Indian football. With tight budgets, Indian clubs find themselves in a fix and with older players being part of the national side, things don't look bright for Indian football at the moment. Discussion on news like Ariel Ortega, the man who was supposed to be the 'next Maradona', arriving on the Indian club scene. What are the chances of international stars joining Indian clubs? How much will Indian football benefit? And reminiscing a bit on JCT, the club that was.