SAFF Championship 2013: Team Profile – India

Current Team

It was only four years ago that AIFF agreed to then national coach Bob Houghton’s suggestion of sending the under-23 team for the SAFF Championship as the senior team had their focus on the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar. But the decision was rather disrespectful to the tournament especially considering India had failed to win the previous edition in 2008.

In the end, that decision paid off as the U-23s lifted the regional crown in Bangladesh. But four years on even India’s senior team are not the best in South Asia either on paper or in terms of FIFA Rankings. Following their historic appearance at the 2011 Asian Cup, India have gone backwards and their failure to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup is a proof of that.

While Afghanistan have benefitted from having foreign-born players, Maldives have improved thanks to a proactive football federation who also beat off competition (or lack of it) from the AIFF to win the hosting rights for the 2014 Challenge Cup. Thus India can no longer qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.

The untimely departure of Bob Houghton, retirements of Bhaichung Bhutia, Climax Lawrence and Mahesh Gawli have played a part in India’s decline as the current squad under Dutch coach Wim Koevermans is a work in progress. Only five of the 20-man squad selected for SAFF 2013 have 20 or more caps at international level while the team is overdependent on captain and striker Sunil Chhetri.

The players also still haven’t got used to the new short passing style under Koevermans and have been consistently poor on foreign soil. The preparation for the tournament also has been far from ideal. The deadlock between AIFF’s commercial partners IMG-Reliance and I-League clubs meant that key players like Subrata Pal and Syed Rahim Nabi haven’t been at their best physical condition. Ironically though there are five IMG-R contracted players in the squad while East Bengal are the most represented I-League club with three.

India’s preparations for the SAFF Championship have been far from ideal

India have also played just one competitive match since March and that ended in a disappointing 3-0 defeat against Tajikistan. Half of the participating nations have had foreign exposure tours but due to AIFF’s financial constraints, India only had a ten-day training camp and that too on an artificial turf whereas all matches at SAFF 2013 will be played on natural surfaces.

Koevermans also lost his first choice full backs Denzil Franco and Gurjinder Kumar and veteran wide midfielder Clifford Miranda through injury. The Indian team’s problems were highlighted by the 1-1 draw that they managed against Bengaluru FC, who are by no means one of the best teams in the I-League, just two days before heading off to Nepal. It would be wrong to say that the Indian national team are in crisis but they are not far from it and the only way they can get rid of the negativity is by winning the tournament.

Final 20-man squad

Goalkeepers: Subrata Pal, Karanjit Singh, Sandip Nandy.

Defenders: Nirmal Chettri, Arnab Mondal, Gouramangi Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Sandesh Jhingan, Mohanraj Nalappan.

Midfielders: Syed Rahim Nabi, Mehtab Hossain, Arata Izumi, Lenny Rodriguez, Alwyn George, Jewel Raja Shaikh, Francis Fernandes.

Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Dawson Fernandes, Jeje Lalpekhlua.

Key Players

Gouramangi Singh

The Manipuri center back cemented his place in the national team with some great performances at the 2008 SAFF Championship. Now the 27-year-old is one of the most senior players of the team and thus has to both perform and inspire the youngsters in a bid to win his second SAFF crown.

Syed Rahim Nabi

The reigning AIFF player of the year made an expected return to the squad after being omitted from the Tajikistan friendly due to fitness reasons. Nabi’s place in the first eleven is far from guaranteed but he is one of India’s few match winners and is eyeing a hattrick of titles along with like Jewel Raja, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Nirmal Chettri.

Sunil Chhetri

The India captain has massive responsibility on his shoulders and he would be aiming to live up to the expectations just like the 2012 Nehru Cup. The SAFF 2011 player of the tournament would be aiming to win his first South Asian title as skipper and Sunil also has some individual accolade on sight as two more goals will make him the competition’s all-time top scorer.

SAFF 2013 Group: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan

SAFF 2013 Fixtures

September 1: Pakistan; September 3: Bangladesh; September 5: Nepal

SAFF 2013 Expectations

Every time India plays in a SAFF Championship they are expected to win the tournament and that doesn’t change this time also despite some of the negativity. However regular South Asian football followers will recognise that Maldives and Afghanistan have improved significantly with the latter also being placed higher than India in the FIFA Rankings. On paper, India have been placed in the trickier of the two groups as they have to face arch-rivals Pakistan, an improved Bangladesh outfit and hosts Nepal.

All three games are potential banana skins but a winning start should calm down India’s nerves and give the players the belief to go on and realise their true potential. India certainly have enough quality to beat Maldives but will have to play much better than they have in the last two years to get the better of Afghanistan, whose foreign-born players make them exceptionally strong. The minimum requirement for India is a record seventh title. Anything less won’t be good enough and could lead to an even more difficult future for Indian football.