SAFF Championship 2013 Preview: India vs Pakistan

Venue: Dasarath Stadium, Kathmandu, Nepal

Kickoff: Sunday, September 1st, 6:15pm IST

Under Pressure

Wim Koevermans will be under pressure to deliver, especially against arch rivals Pakistan

At every SAFF Championship, India are expected to win the tournament. That remains the case in this edition too, although they haven’t been in good form in this calendar year and are not even the highest-ranked team in the region.

Their failure to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup has put even more pressure on Wim Koevermans and his players to retain the regional title and anything less could raise question marks about the Dutch coach’s future.

The record six-time champions strangely had their preparatory camp on the artificial surface, although all matches at SAFF 2013 will take place on natural pitches, and only played one international friendly.

So far in Kathmandu, Koevermans has consistently played down the external pressure of a showdown against Pakistan in the opener, stressing that every game is important.

But deep down he will be aware that a negative result in this game will not only complicate things for his side in this tournament, but also strengthen the growing discontent among Indian football followers.

India’s preparations were also hit by the injuries to regular fullbacks Denzil Franco and Gurjinder Kumar while veteran wide midfielder Clifford Miranda also wasn’t included in the final squad due to a knock.

Although the majority of the final squad has played and won the SAFF Championship in the past, overall it lacks international experience as only six out of the 20 players have 20 or more caps.

That could be vital, considering the fact that the tournament is organised outside India this time, and for the record, the senior national team hasn’t won a competition on foreign soil sine 2005.

Hence, a winning start is mandatory, and since the opponents are Pakistan, a victory could even raise the self-belief of the squad as any win over the arch-rivals in any sport creates a feel good factor back home.

The biggest problem for this India team is that they are overdependent on skipper and talisman Sunil Chhetri to do the scoring. The 29-year-old Delhite is three goals away from becoming India’s all-time top scorer and needs two at SAFF 2013 to become the competition’s all-time highest scorer.

In the current squad, Jeje Lalpekhlua is the second highest goal scorer with eight goals to his name but is unlikely to start. The versatile Syed Rahim Nabi is possibly the other real match-winner besides Sunil, but even his inclusion in the starting eleven is doubtful.

Koevermans will also be wary of Pakistan’s foreign presence and would be hoping that his players don’t panic like in the final AFC Challenge Cup qualifier against Myanmar where they lost when a draw would have secured qualification.

The Koevermans era started well last year with Nehru Cup success, but it hasn’t gone according to plan since then. SAFF 2013 gives the former Dutch international and his players the chance to make up for the recent bad showings. Only a win will be good enough from the opener.

New Regime

Leading up to the tournament, the advantage Pakistan had over India was the fact that their Serbian head coach Zavisa Milosavljevic had been in charge in 2011, including the last SAFF Championship, and thus was more familiar with South Asian football.

But that advantage has been lost as Milosavljevic was replaced by Shahzad Anwar after a 3-0 defeat to Afghanistan. Mohammed Shamlan from Bahrain has also been appointed as the technical consultant,and the players have had very little time to adapt under the new coaching staff.

Although Anwar stated that they lost against Afghanistan because they experimented with the team ahead of SAFF 2013, confidence surely won’t be sky high in the Pakistan camp.

However, the form book becomes irrelevant in an India-Pakistan match, and the green shirts will relish being the underdogs.The presence of their five-foreign based players, including former EPL defender Zesh Rehman, will certainly give Pakistan a great chance of causing an upset.

FILE PHOTO: Former EPL defender Zesh Rehman’s presence will give Pakistan great boost

Captain Samar Ishaq and coach Anwar also admitted that the availability of Zesh has given the whole dressing room a big lift as the 29-year-old Kitchee defender is by far the most high profile Pakistan footballer and makes a return to the SAFF Championship after eight years.

Like India, Pakistan too played just one international friendly in the build up to the tournament but they did reach Kathmandu a week before their opening fixture and thus could adapt to the altitude and conditions better.

Every match in Group A is a potential six-pointer with every team having the quality to go through to the semi-finals, so although India are the favourites, Pakistan will be determined to avoid defeat at least in a bid to reach the semi-finals.

Pakistan have probably been the biggest underachievers in SAFF Championship’s history as they are one of the four teams to have featured in every edition and have also hosted the competition twice.

Yet, they have never even reached the final and have failed to get past the group stage in the last three editions.

Foreign-born players have been playing for the national team for some time now and the Pakistan football federation is still on the lookout for more overseas talent.

But to attract more quality players from abroad, Pakistan will have to start being consistent at South Asian level at least. For this purpose, they must find the right balance between homegrown and foreign talent in this tournament.

Anwar’s local expertise and Shamlan’s technical knowledge could turn this Pakistan team into the darkhorses of SAFF 2013 but they must make a positive start against India.

Form Guide

India: LWWLL

Wim Koevermans’s record outside India has been poor, just like his predecessors, as he has only managed two wins in five games, with both those victories coming against lower-ranked nations.

Pakistan is another lower-ranked team and India would be aiming to make a winning start unlike the last edition in 2011.

Pakistan: LLLWL

Besides the twin 1-0 wins over Nepal in Kathmandu, the only team Pakistan have beaten in this calendar year is Macau, who are the second-lowest ranked team in Asia.

Pakistan haven’t beaten India since 2005 on home soil but did win when they last opened their SAFF Championship campaign against India back in 2003.

Team News

India

Koevermans has a fully-fit squad to choose from, but has to make three or four important decisions.

First, he has to decide on his goalkeeper with Subrata Pal likely to get the nod. The left-back position is also a concern for Koevermans as the only recognised left back, Nallappan Mohanraj hasn’t played much football in the last 24 months. Thus, Nabi could start in that role, although he hasn’t been used there since February.

India also doesn’t have a left-footed midfielder, but the biggest talking point will be the formation.

Koevermans has mostly used the 4-4-1-1 formation and that has put more pressure on Sunil up front. Inclusion of four strikers in the 20-man squad suggests that the Dutchman could be tempted to use two players at the head of the pack but this being the first game, he is likely to stick to the tried and tested formula.

Probable Starting XI: 4-4-1-1 – Subrata Pal; Nirmal Chettri, Gouramangi Singh, Arnab Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi; Francis Fernandes, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Arata Izumi; Jewel Raja; Sunil Chhetri.

Pakistan

Pakistan are set to start with all five foreign-based players which will be a big upgrade from the Afghanistan game where they played all local players.

The key decision for Anwar and Shamlan is choosing the defensive midfield partner for Adnan Ahmed. Yasir Afridi is likely to start in that role, but faces healthy competition from Zia-us-Salam and Naveed Ahmad.

The domestic league’s best player and reigning top scorer, Kaleemullah is expected to partner Denmark-based Hassan Bashir up front in a 4-4-2 system with Zesh at the heart of central defence.

Probable Starting XI: 4-4-2 – Yousuf Butt; Samar Ishaq, Zesh Rehman, Kamran Khan, Yaqoob Butt; Mohammad Adil, Adnan Ahmed, Yasir Afridi, Saddam Hussain; Kaleemullah, Hassan Bashir.

Players to watch out for:

India – Sunil Chhetri

Sunil Chhetri

The India captain is indispensable for the national team and India would be hoping that he remains fit throughout the tournament as the Arjuna Awardee has completed 90 minutes on very few occasions in the last 12 months.

Sunil scored his first international goal against Pakistan eight years ago and will be determined to get on the scoresheet in this game.

Pakistan – Adnan Ahmed

The former Manchester United youth player is one of the most technically-gifted players of not only Pakistan but the whole of South Asia.

Adnan, who currently plays in the lower tiers of England, will have to dominate proceedings in the midfield, but would also be hopeful of getting more support from his teammates.