by Harmit Singh Kamboe

India Win the ONGC Nehru Cup - Where do we go next?
The Indian campaign at the "ONGC" Nehru Cup was an example of when almost everything is both planned and executed to perfection, and how one can achieve success. And this is something that is seldom seen in any aspect of the lives of India's citizens let alone football.
If we were to analyse why India made history by beating Syria in the "ONGC" Nehru Cup finals, the single biggest factor would be the eight week long, distraction free pre-season training stint. It was great planning on the AIFF's part to schedule the tournament when the club season had still not properly started and there was a proper training program (domestic and overseas) lined up for the national squad. With no club games to worry about, the players were healthy, injury free, and had time on side to gel as a unit. It was heartening to see India play like winners, the confidence that they displayed on the football field was clearly evident.
This confidence level was the other key factor in India's win. The Nehru Cup has shown that to build the confidence of India's players, it is essential to pit them against competitors that are more or less at our competitive level. Throwing Indian footballers against much stronger teams is like throwing them to the wolves. All the arm chair critics that criticised Bob Houghton for only playing against 2nd and 3rd division teams in Portugal during India's recent trip have suddenly gone quiet. There was a purpose in those games and the purpose was to reveal to the players themselves, that they could beat or match upto some of the lower level European club sides. The strategy has worked and we should not deviate from it until we are ready for the next higher level.
The vociferous crowd support that Team India received at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi, of all places, has taken everyone by surprise. Skipper Baichung Bhutia, local lad Sunil Chetri; all have acknowledged how the strong crowd support egged them on to perform better. The lesson is clear. Attractive football played under floodlights has fans even in what are considered as non-football pockets of India.
This title win has created a never before awareness for both football and Team India amongst the media and the common man. We must keep the momentum going as fans, journalists, football administrators and citizens.
But where do we go from here? We will not have the luxury of an eight week preparatory camp for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lebanon on October 8 & 28. In fact the entire team will only be together for a 10 day camp in Dubai and six of the players from Mahindra United would be coming off the AFC Cup quarterfinal matches against Lebanese side Al Nemjeh.
Now is the time for the NFL clubs of India to stand up and be counted. They must put in better training and infrastructure in place. It may be worthwhile to have Bob Houghton meet the head coaches and key coaching staff of the clubs and work out at least some common training methods and tactics. Ultimately attractive and vibrant football is equally good for Team India and the clubs.
It would be a shame to lose the momentum that has been created and not put some mechanism in place to replicate the basic lessons learnt from India's winning campaign. And we have been in such a situation a number of times over the last decade.
On a separate note, it has now become clear that Bob Houghton is hell of a coach. He had emphasised in earlier interviews on the need for a common football training program for the youth squads and clubs, the ludicrousness of having to release players for club duty when the nation called and the need to play teams that were close to us in skill levels. While none of these are earth shattering insights, but we must give credit to Bob for doing what was needed and in some cases obvious. The results are here for every one to see. The challenge is to keep going and raising the bar until yes, we can see the top and then scale the peak. It may not happen in the next few years but if we do not keep at it, it will never happen.