AFC Cup: Both Indian clubs lose once more

The 2012 AFC Cup campaign ended for Salgaocar SC and East Bengal Club the way it had started with another loss. While the Goans have at least a win and a draw to their name, the Kolkata giants lost all their six matches; which does leave questions about the standard of Indian clubs and/or the seriousness of Indian participants in the competition though Indian clubs as I-League champions have been eyeing the AFC Champions League qualifiers.


Uzbekistan's FC Neftchi easily beat Salgaocar SC 3-0 at home on Tuesday to take revenge for a surprise two-all draw in Goa back in March. Neftchi finished second on 11 points, while Salgaocar finished fourth and last with four points.

The Uzbeks made the perfect start when striker Pavel Smolyachenko gave them a first minute lead and it was Smolyachenko again who doubled Neftchi's lead five minutes into the second half as the striker bounced to turn home following an error from Salgaocar defender Nicolau Colaco. And with 13 minutes remaining Anvar Berdiev's third goal of the campaign and also the match sealed Neftchi's third win in Group D before Salgaocar’s Ahmed Ishfaq was sent-off in stoppage time.

"Despite injuries to several players I am happy that we put up a good show with whatever was available with to us," said Neftchi coach Yuri Sarkisan.

"We were not under any pressure as we had already qualified and we played for the spectators today. Although Salgaocar played well, I felt their defence was weak."

"It was a tough match for us, especially since we have been travelling for the past six days. First it was for our last league (I-League) match and now for the AFC Cup match," said Salgaocar coach Karim Bencherifa.

"To add to that, half of my team is injured, and many of my key players like (Lamare) Rocus and Gilbert (Oliveira) did not play today. I also want to say that these are not any excuses but these are facts. However, I feel we could have done much better today," Karim ended.


Kolkata giants were on the verge of picking-up their first point of this AFC Cup campaign, but in the end had to settle for a 1-2 defeat against Kazma from Kuwait. While Kazma finished second on 11 points, East Bengal finished last with no points to their name.

Ismail Al Ajmi had given the visitors an early 8th minute lead at the Saltlake Stadium but the red-and-golds Brazilian striker Edmilson Marques Pardal struck in the 18th minute of a rebound to draw level. But the home side suffered a severe blow when young wing-back Saikat Saha Roy was sent off in the 35th minute but Kazma failed to make the extra man count until Masahri Al Azmi struck in the first time of injury time to secure the three points.

"We were lucky to win but it was absolutely cruel to play in the heat and humidity of Kolkata," said experienced Kazma coach Milan Macala.

"We fought well with 10 men as the boys played their heart out," said East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan.

"Their performance despite their intensive travelling was indeed commendable," Trevor added.

AFC Cup: Salgaocar draw, East Bengal lose

The two Indian participating clubs - Salgaocar SC and East Bengal Club - in the 2012 AFC Cup remain winless after match day two, but at least Salgaocar SC did cause a surprise by holding favourites FC Neftchi from Uzbekistan to a two-all draw at home while East Bengal were beaten 3-0 away by Kuwaiti side Kazma SC.

Group B: Kazma SC 3-0 (2-0) East Bengal Club
Kolkata giants East Bengal Club flew to Kuwait with the aim of trying to bring something back home to India, but again they came back empty handed. Kazma beat East Bengal 3-0 at the Friendship & Peace Stadium in Kuwait City. After an even game it was Kazma striker Yousef Naser who put the Emir Cup holders ahead in the 38th minute with a powerfully-struck free-kick from 30 metres which sailed past East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the left corner of the net and a minute from the half-time whistle defender Naser Al Wohaid struck when he turned a cross from the right into the net from close range. The win was sealed in the 58th minute when Gambian defender Abdou Gammeh headed-in a cross from the left.

Group D: Salgaocar SC 2-2 (1-1) FC Neftchi
Salgaocar SC hosted FC Neftchi in their first-ever AFC Cup match at the Nehru Stadium, Margao which ended in a to-all draw. The Uzbeks were the better side, but the Indian champions game them a fight and earned a deserving point in the end. It was Otabek Isroilov who gave Neftchi the lead following a 27th minute free-kick but just before the half-time whistle Japanese midfielder Ryuji Sueoka levelled the score. Again Neftchi attacked Salgaocar's in search of the lead and they earned it through a Aziz Alijonov goal from a counterattack, but eight minutes from time young Gilbert Oliveira struck a great long-ranger perfectly which would give the Goans a point from this match.

AFC Cup: East Bengal travel to Kuwait to face Kazma SC

Kolkata giants East Bengal Club have announced their 19 players squad for the trip to Kuwait to face Kazma SC in their second Group B tie on Tuesday, March 20 at the Friendship & Peace Stadium in Kuwait City with the kick-off being 18.30 local time.

The red-and-gold were unlucky to lose their opening round match due to a controversial penalty against Al Orouba of Yemen, now they will have to bring something back from Kuwait to stay in the competition as Kazma had drawn their opening match against Arbil from Iraq.

East Bengal have left Kolkata for Kuwait City via Dubai with a number of players like Naoba Singh, Reisangmi Vashum, Susanth Mathew and Mehtab Hussain all missing due to injuries, while seasoned Alvito D'Cunha makes a comeback into the AFC Cup squad.


EAST BENGAL CLUB

Goalkeepers
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandip Nandy

Defenders
Saikat Saha Roy, Nirmal Chetri, Uga Okpara, Gurwinder Singh, Raju Eknath Gaikwad, Soumik Dey, Robert Lalthlamuana

Midfielders
Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Penn Ikechukwu Orji, Sanju Pradhan, Khanthang Paite, Subodh Kumar, Alvito D'Cunha

Forwards
Tolgay Ozbey, Robin Singh, Baljit Singh Sahni, Edmilson Marques Pardal

Officials
Trevor James Morgan (Coach), Ranjan Chaudhuri (Assistant Coach), Atanu Bhattacharya (Gaolkeeping Coach)

International Friendly: Kuwait humiliate India

India's preparations for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup suffered a major set back with a 1-9 international friendly defeat at the hands of Kuwait at the Al-Wahda Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Kuwait was leading 3-0 at the break, but after the breather added six more goals to humiliate the Indians and Bob Houghton will surely be a worried man with less then two month's to go until the Asian Cup.

I went through the stats available to me. And if I am right then this was the worst defeat since a 1976 Merdeka Cup 0-8 defeat against South Korea. And the last time we lost 1-9 was also in the Merdeka Cup in 1971 against the then Burma. But our worst ever defeat was a 1-11 trashing at the hands of the Soviet Union in Moscow in a friendly in 1955, followed by a 1-10 trashing by Yugoslavia in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. For Bob Houghton it was the worst defeat in his time with Team India. Before that Bob's worst defeat as India coach had come in September 2006, a 1-7 trashing against Saudi Arabia.

The West Asian champions simply took apart the South Asian champions. But the Indian seniors are only on paper South Asian champions as we actually played with our Under-23 boys in Dhaka last year. Bob Houghton stuck to the same eleven who played against Iraq the other night due to lack of options caused by injuries.

But the gulf in standard became evident this evening. Bader Al Mutawa was the hero of the day for Kuwait scoring four of their nine goals, while Yousef Naser Al Sulaiman, Jarah Al Ataiqi, Fahad Al Enezi, Khaled Khalaf and Hammad Naif Al Enezi also got their names onto the extra long scoresheet. Substitute Mohammed Rafi scored the consolation goal for India on a night which does make us worried about our matches against Australia, South Korea and Bahrain; who all on paper are stronger then Kuwait.

After having played and scored against Scunthorpe on Saturday, PIO Michael Chopra was a spectator to India's match against Kuwait. And the good news is that he is not put off by the performance and result. Chops still wants to play for us, only the paperwork would have to be done.


MATCH STATS

India 1-9 (0-3) Kuwait - Goals: 0-1 Yousef Naser Al Sulaiman (20'), 0-2,0-5,0-7,1-9 Bader Al Mutawa (25',55',66',90'), 0-3 Jarah Al Ataiqi (29',pen), 0-4 Fahad Al Enezi (51'), 0-6 Khaled Khalaf (56'), 1-7 M. Mohammed Rafi (70'), 1-8 Hammad Naif Al Enezi (75')

INDIA
1-Subrata Pal; 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 5-Anwar, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 41-Rakesh Masih, 30-Climax Lawrence [C], 28-Anthony Pereira; 9-Abhishek Yadav, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh
Substitutes: 16-Jagroop Singh, 6-Baldeep Singh, 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 13-James Lukram Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 26-Mohammed Rafi, 27-Mehrajuddin Wadoo, 29-Jagpreet Singh

India to face Kuwait in another friendly

Today the eye's of the sporting world will be glued towards Abu Dhabi to see who wins the Formula 1 championship at the Yas Marina Circuit, but only a few kilometres away at the Al-Wahda Stadium in Abu Dhabi central India will take on Kuwait in an international football friendly.

Normally the events wouldn't have clashed as Formula 1 races start a 14.00 local time, but due to the Yas Marina Circuit having floodlights the race starts at 17.00 local time, which is 14.00 CET and prime time for Formula 1 on a Sunday afternoon. With the India vs Kuwait match set to kick-off at 18.00 local (19.30 IST) it does clash with Formula 1, maybe the kick-off could have been a little later and enable more fans to witness the game.

Coming to talk about the match. India play their second match during their preparations in Dubai. After their 0-2 loss against defending Asian champions Iraq in Sharjah they now face their neighbours Kuwait, who are known to be a tricky opponent in the Gulf. Hopefully India will have learned their lessons from the Iraq match as I had pointed out a couple of days back and hopefully Kuwait will be an easier opponent then the tough Iraqis.

With Baichung Bhutia, Samir Naik, N.P. Pradeep, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury and Arindam Bhattacharya still out injured plus Sunil Chhetri not fully fit yet, Bob Houghton is likely to send the same first eleven onto the field. Bob has Mahesh Gawli and Mohammed Rafi back from injury, who both played a half against Iraq and they are likely to see more match action today. The key thing for India is to keep their level of mistakes low, especially Subrata Pal in goal; better Indian presence in central midfield; try to play more over the flanks by using the strengths of Steven Dias and Anthony Pereira on the wings; while the strikers get a little bit more support.

The last time the two countries met for an international friendly was on November 5, 2004 in Kuwait City ahead of a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier later that month in Oman. And India actually went on to win the tie 3-2 with goals from Tomba Singh, Jerry Zirsanga and Abhishek Yadav in an action packed encounter. A repeat today would surely be welcome.

A guest at the match today will be English born "Player of Indian Origin" Michael Chopra, who only yesterday scored a goal in Cardiff City FC's win against Scunthorpe and he will be in the UAE to speak with the Team India management about becoming part of the team.

The match will be played at the Al-Wahda Stadium in Abu Dhabi and as per latest information with me there will be no live television coverage of the match in India.


Likely India Line-up

1-Subrata Pal; 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 41-Rakesh Masih, 30-Climax Lawrence, 28-Anthony Pereira; 9-Abhishek Yadav, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh

Asian Games Football: India lose opener

The India Under-23 national team opened their 2010 Asian Games campaign with a 0-2 loss against Kuwait in Group D at the Huadu Stadium in Guangzhou. In the other group match Singapore caused a surprise by holding Qatar goalless. India now face defending champions Qatar on Tuesday, November 9 and in the final match Singapore on Thursday, November 11. And even with today's loss India still have chances to make it to the Round of 16.

In a match-up of the West Asian and South Asian champions, India did challenge their superior Gulf rivals in the game, but conceded an early goal as well as another in the second session to let Kuwait walk away with the three points. Striker Khaled Al Azemi scored both the goals for the Kuwaitis.

The Indian Juniors were worthy opponents, but the lack of goals was once more the downfall for India. India did have chances through captain Joaquim Abranches, Jewel Sheikh Raja and Balwant Singh but none on the scoreboard and that counts. India were nearly same on ball possession 49 to 51%, had more corners with 5-1 and 5-6 shots on target.

After the match coach Sukhvinder Singh was happy with his teams performance, but rued the missed chances which could have led to Indian goals.


India Under-23

21-Laxmikant Kattimani; 18-Denzil Franco, 4-Rowilson Rodrigues, 14-Dharmaraj Ravanan, 17-Robert Lalthalma; 11-Joachim Abranches [C], 8-Manish Maithani, 23-Jewel Sheikh Raja, 12-K. Jibon Singh; 24-Jeje Lalpekhlua (25-Malswamfela), 10-Balwant Singh
Substitutions: 1-Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, 2- Abhishek Das, 7-Milan Ongnam Singh, 9-Raju Gaikwad, 15-Lalrozama Fanai, 19-Subodh Kumar, 20-Lalrindika Ralte, 27-Jagtar Singh

Asian Games Football: India face Kuwait in opener

The 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China will only open on November 12, but the football tournament starts tomorrow so the 24 team tournament can be finished by the end of the games. The India Under-23 face Kuwait in their opening Group D match tomorrow at the Huadu Stadium in Guangzhou.

The two other teams in the group are defending champions Qatar and Singapore, who also face each other tomorrow. India then face Qatar on November 9 and Singapore in their final group match on November 11. The top two teams from each group will move into the pre-quarterfinals and the four of the six best third placed sides will also make it to the Round of 16.

The India Under-23 is being coached by seasoned Sukhvinder Singh. In December 2009 the squad had won the South Asian Football Federation Championships in Dhaka, Bangaldesh; but since then the squad has only played one friendly game. That was last month a 1-3 loss against Vietnam in Cuttack, which the coach termed as an important test ahead of a training camp in China.

Sukhvinder Singh goes into the tournament without any additions from the senior national team as Bob Houghton didn't release anyone from his 30 members squad. The Asian Games might have been good exposure for boys like Govin Singh, N. Mohanraj, Jagpreet Singh or Baljit Singh Sahni, but it also would have hampered Bob's preparations for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

The Asian Games are an Under-23 football tournament which allows three overage players like in the Olympics. In Sukhvinder's squad captain Joaquim Abranches is 25, while Karanjit Singh and Denzil Franco are 24 years old. The squad is a good mix which has a number of young talents from the Under-20 squad of the AIFF XI.


Likely India Under-23 Line-up

Laxmikant Kattimani; Denzil Franco, Rowilson Rodrigues, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Robert Lalthalma; Joachim Abranches, Manish Maithani, Jewel Sheikh Raja, Jibon Singh; Jeje Lalpekhlua, Balwant Singh

2010 Asian Games: Football draws are out

The draw for the football tournament at the 2010 Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China was carried out earlier today. The men's competition will see 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each with the top two sides from each group plus the four best third placed teams making it into the Round of 16. From there on it would be a knockout tournament to win the gold medal.

Though the Asian Games only open on November 12, the football tournament will be held from November 7 to 25. The competition like the Olympic football tournament will be an Under-23 tournament with three over aged players allowed per squad. The football competitions will be played across seven venues - Ying Dong Stadium, Huadu Stadium, Huangpu Stadium, Yuexiu Stadium, Guangdong People’s Stadium, Huagdong Stadium and Tianhe Stadium.

Two time champions India have been drawn in a difficult Group D along with defending champions Qatar, Kuwait and Singapore. Moving into the knockout stages is surely possible for the Sukhvinder Singh coached boys but for that a win against Singapore is a must plus good results against Kuwait and the mighty Qataris. One will have to see if Bob Houghton does release some of his senior team boys, while some India Under-20 boys will move up to be part of the squad ahead of their I-League engagements.

Four years ago in the Qatari capital Doha India had opened with a draw due to a late equaliser from Hongkong, beaten the Maldives 2-1 through a late Subhas Chakraborty goal, and then lost 0-2 against a strong Iran. That was then the end of the road for India as only the top team moved into the quarterfinals.


THE GROUPINGS

MEN

Group A: China, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Japan
Group B: Iran, Vietnam, Bahrain, Turkmenistan
Group C: South Korea, Palestine, Jordan, North Korea
Group D: Qatar, Kuwait, India, Singapore
Group E: Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Bangladesh
Group F: Thailand, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan


WOMEN

Group A: China, South Korea, Vietnam, Jordan
Group B: North Korea, Japan, Thailand