India looking to salvage some pride

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, MAY 19. United Arab Emirates (UAE), the team that India shocked in the opener of the Group 8 pre-World Cup football qualifiers, has made the second round grade with a 3-2 win over Yemen on Friday night.

India now has to win by a big margin against bottom placed Brunei in the last of the group's league engagements to secure the second spot which again is purely of academic interest.

Many would rate this season's performance, which earned the National team an invitation to the Merdeka Soccer, sometime next month, as a satisfactory showing. But let's not be under illusion, we have many a gray area to make any sort of impact in the Asian region, let alone in the world scenario.

If UAE could bounce back after the debacles against India (in India) and again to Yemen at home and qualify, then it has to be lauded. UAE even sacked its highly paid French coach Henri Michael after the loss to Yemen and then posted a win over the same opponent to squeak through with 12 points. Yemen finished with 11 points (three wins and two draws).

India on the other hand began with a flourish and then drew two matches that it should have won handsomely, both against Yemen. In the home match at Bangalore if India came back from a goal deficit it was thanks to Baichung Bhutia's effort. Later it squandered a 3-2 advantage to allow Yemen to equalise in the dying moments of the away match.

The points frittered in these matches proved very vital. India is on eight points now after two wins, two draws and a 0-1 loss to UAE. And a convincing win on Sunday will at least ensure that it displaces Yemen on better goal difference.

Chief coach Sukhwinder Singh praised the boys for their consistent performance. ``It's a well balanced team,' he stressed.

He will however be making a couple of changes for the clash against Brunei. ``All the boys are fit and we'll go all out,'' ascertained the coach. The team members also looked upbeat. While the qualifiers end after the match against Brunei, the Merdeka tournament and the tour of England (wherein the Indian team plays three matches) are foremost in their plans. A good showing on Sunday could possibly ensure a berth in the two forthcoming tours.

Also with the last date of the transfers for the next season approaching (May 31), talk centered on the options and gains. While the star duo of I.M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri have switched allegiance to the newly crowned National League champion - East Bengal, Mahindra United (Mumbai) seems to have roped in a few of the current India players - Khalid Jamil, Rattan Singh, Sur Kumar Singh and Mahesh Gawli - to its ranks. However a clearer picture will emerge only after the next weekend.

Brunei unperturbed

Brunei, despite the 23 goals pumped against it in the five group matches so far, seems unperturbed. Although football is the nation's main sport, professionalism is yet to creep in. ``Football is more of a hobby amongst us,'' said manager Haji Md Shukri Jaji Md Zain, ``but I'm happy at the improvement over every match.''

Brunei, playing the Malaysian league since 1977, has split the National team into two. ``One set plays the M-league, which we consider on priority basis, while a good sprinkle of senior players along with a number of promising juniors have formed the team for the pre-World Cup qualifiers,'' said the manager.

Brunei which lost 0-12 to UAE in the first match and then subsequently managed to narrow down the deficits, thanks to a defensive approach, lamented over the absence of a striker to `finish off the moves'.

``And defence is going to be our main plank for tomorrow's game,'' said coach Zainuddin Kassim, who was a member of the Brunei team that qualified for the World Cup way back in 1985. Fahad Abdulla A Raisi of Oman is the match commissioner for Sunday's match.

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