IndianFootball.Com's Jerry Joy yesterday, November 20, had the chance to chat with Indian national coach Bob Houghton on numerous issues after the press conference at the Iranian Club in Dubai. Bob gives an outlook at the upcoming Asian Games and his plans for India in the coming years and what needs to be done to improve our football.
How are India's chances in the Asian Games?
We are lucky that only one of the superpowers of Asia, Iran is in our group which could prove to be a blessing in disguise.
We should be having six points by the time we meet Iran in the final group game.
Six points might be enough to garner one of the two best runners position among the six groups.
Sushil Kumar Singh is the only player from recent Asian Youth Championship in the team (Bob had earlier mentioned that 5/6 players would be part of the Asian Games team).
Reason for this is the team which played in last years U21 is presently there which means the majority of the players are from last years U21 team.
How could Indian football improve and youth football in India?
A technical director would be appointed sometime in early 2007 which is a move in the right direction.
Real improvements happen when finances change - 'A big corporate sponsorship deal which is in the negotiation stage should be signed by the end of this year'.
We require not only the ball players but also people who have the required physique.
Current in the Indian Team not a single player is above 180 cm. Our average height is about 173 cm while the Italian team in the World cup finals had an average height of 185 cm with four players over 190 cm.
Skillful players like Baichung Bhutia will walk into any team irrespective of their height but football has become more physical therefore physique is as important as skill.
When I informed him about the work being done by IndianFootball.Com with respect to youth development he was quite happy and felt that the IndianFootball.Com team, whom he had interacted with during the Saudi Arabia match in Calcutta and myself here in Dubai, were quite enthusiastic and praised us for the dedication shown and encouraged us to keep up the good work!
What do you feel about the various football academies which have come-up across the country?
I feel that isolated academies could not make a difference unless there is a centralized youth development system in place in which the best 30 players are identified each year.
The AIFF will be starting two centers along these lines next year. Each center will have a separate fitness coach, a goalkeeping coach and all other required personnel.
The Subroto Cup and the national youth tournaments could be the supplier of the talent pool.
To tackle these uncertainties the centralized youth set-up is required.
The success of individual academies depend on various factors:
- Good Coaches (At the moment there is a lack of qualified coaches to guide youngsters in India)
- Quality of Players
- Check the Age of the players as Overage players are always a problem (Overaged players will solve the problem in short run but in the long run you are killing yourself!)
But how is interest generated?
There are two ways of generating interest:
Player breaking into the top European league like the English Premier League, e.g. China in 1998 were nowhere but qualified for 2002 World Cup due to Hao Haidong who was an icon in China in 1998 and they had a centralized youth system being set-up.
This resulted in good performance from National Team.
The Recruitment of quality PIO's, e.g.: Ireland in the 1990s under coach Jack Charlton just did that and this bore fruits with Ireland reaching three successive World Cup quarterfinals and finishing third at the 1997 U20 World Cup.
I am interested in Prince Rajcomar, a 21 year old who plays in Dutch first division and has already played 100 professional games. I will speak to him when possible.
We also need to follow the Japanese model, e.g.: in 1990 they where nowhere but set a target of qualifying in 10 years which was achieved earlier in 1998. So we need to think Long term.
Thank you Bob for talking to us and sharing your views!
the interview was conducted by Jerry Joy (November 2006).