A gloomy prospect

By S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI, SEPT. 25. Considering the limited opportunities that Indian footballers get, the postponement of the inaugural Afro- Asian Games and thereafter the SAF Games has certainly left them the worst hit among Indian sportspersons. With another international engagement not listed till January next year - SAFF Cup in Dhaka - the footballers have a long wait.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had actually planned to keep the footballers busy in the run up to the Islamabad and New Delhi engagements. Apart from camps, the under- 23 group for the SAF Games and the others for the Afro-Asian competition, the AIFF had proposed warm-up matches in India with Asian countries of similar strength and also a visit to Qatar for friendlies.

The Indian team was placed alongwith Nigeria, Turkmenistan and Morocco in the Afro-Asian competition. In terms of performance it would have been difficult to expect India to have shone in this company, but the Games would still have provided an experience they had been denied for sometime now. Imagine getting another opportunity to face teams like Nigeria, the current Olympic champion, and Morocco, which has the experience of playing in the World Cup, in the foreseeable future!

It is a different matter that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) hopes to have the Games rescheduled sometime early next year. But the international calendar being so tight, particularly in football, any rearrangement of schedules cannot come without loss of sheen.

These top football teams had visited India earlier for the once prestigious but now defunct Nehru Gold Cup tournament. And now when opportunity eludes Indian footballers the absence of what was once a world-ranked international tournament is even more felt. The Nehru Cup, despite all the dilutions it suffered in the later years was still something that had been patronised by World Cup stars at various times in its short but chequered history. It is now four years since the last edition was hosted, and ironically that Kochi competition was the best from India's point of view with the host entering the semifinal for the first time.

Until the AIFF is able to find another slot for this international tourney as also the Rajiv Gandhi under-21 international fixture, Indian footballers will have to make do with prosaic exercises like pre-World Cup, pre-Olympic and pre- Asian Cup competitions, not to forget the SAF Games and SAFF Cup events. Not a particularly encouraging scenario when one considers that India, once an Asian Games champion, can no longer claim to be a force even in the amiable south Asian region.

Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and even Pakistan have all questioned India's supremacy in football. And in the current setting of limited `exposure', Indian football faces the gloomy prospect of getting exposed in the face of the rising challenge from these neighbouring countries.

A reflection of the changing times is the draws that the Asian Football Confederation released recently for the Asian Club championship and the Asian Cup Winners Cup championship.

An Indian club is conspicuous by its absence in both the events, when clubs from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives have been listed and slots for Pakistan and Nepal earmarked.

What better commentary can there be on the way the game is developing in this region, no matter India's predicament.

One reason for India's absence is the brief stoppage of the Federation Cup tournament since 1998, for the winner in this represents the country in the Cup Winners Cup championship but why the National league champion, East Bengal, is not there for the Asian club championship (home and away format) getting underway on October 21 is beyond comprehension.

Now this is a case of an opportunity going abegging.

Sometime back Mohun Bagan had the dubious distinction of being penalised by the AFC for not keeping its commitment against Japanese giant Jubilo Iwata. The latest development only heightens the need for AIFF to check this unhealthy propensity of Indian clubs to shy away from Asian competition.

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