Wim Koevermans vs Bob Houghton: A comparative analysis

India failed to qualify for the 2014 Challenge Cup under Koevermans but the procedure was slightly tricky as only one out of four teams was guaranteed automatic qualification. India defeated Chinese Taipei and Guam but lost in the last game against hosts Myanmar. Back during the 2012 qualifiers, all matches were played in a neutral venue, Malaysia, and Houghton’s India side were not under pressure to get a result against the home team like in the case of Koevermans.

Houghton’s biggest achievement was qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup by winning the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup but India were the hosts for that tournament. AIFF failed to give Koevermans home advantage for the 2014 edition as Maldives won the hosting rights or else the Dutchman would have rightly been under pressure to do what Houghton achieved five years ago.

Bob Houghton had a poor record outside India

India’s record in away international friendlies has been dismal over the years. That didn’t change under Houghton and continued under Koevermans as the defeat to Tajikistan extended their winless streak to 16 matches over a period of more than eight years.

It’s true that some of the 20 defeats suffered by Houghton in 45 matches have come against top teams like Australia, Bahrain, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia but most of the 20 wins came against developing or emerging Asian countries like Kyrgyzstan (2), Pakistan (2), Chinese Taipei (2), Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan etc.

Houghton also suffered defeats against nations which India are capable of beating like Lebanon (2), Syria (2), Hong Kong (2) etc.

The most notable disappointment in the Houghton era though was the failure to win the SAFF Championship in 2008 and that is where Koevermans has the chance to put one over the Englishman if he triumphs in Nepal next month.

Here is a statistical comparison of the two coaches. Very clearly, there is hardly any difference.

Coach	Bob Houghton	Wim Koevermans
Winning Percentage	44.4	44.4
Tournaments won/Tournaments played	3/5	1/1
Tournaments won at home	3	1
Away international friendlies won/Away international friendlies played	0/5	0/2

Playing Style

After his appointment last year, the biggest improvement Koevermans was expected to bring was a new and attractive playing style. India were tipped to play the ‘Dutch way’ but it wasn’t ever going to be a swift transition from Houghton’s ‘direct-football’ to the ‘short-passing game’.

Many people criticised Houghton for the British style that was used for the Indian national team but in truth the former Malmo coach only focused on getting the basics right. It wasn’t pleasing on the eye but made perfect sense as Indian players had been trained all their life to play mostly in a 4-4-2 system, so, it was easier to coach them in a direct style with huge emphasis on set-pieces.

It turned out to be a sensible move as many of India’s goals in big games during the Houghton era came from set-pieces and even their first goal at the 2011 Asian Cup was from a well-worked freekick.

The national team is still getting used to the short-passing style(Photo Credit: AIFF Media)

The team under Koevermans operates in a 4-4-1-1 system with plenty of short passes but still they have looked more dangerous with two strikers upfront and scored plenty of goals from set-pieces.

The unfamiliarity with the short-passing style was well evident in the crucial AFC Challenge Cup qualifier 1-0 defeat to Myanmar in March, when the players failed to keep possession and aimlessly hit long balls.

Koevermans will need more time to bring in that new style and the dearth of playmakers in Indian football will make his task even tougher.

To be frank, if results don’t go his way, the 53-year-old won’t be given much time and the new style of play will only evolve if it is used seriously across all the age-group teams and clubs.

So to sum up, no new playing style has evolved as most of the Indian players are still comfortable with the Houghton way.