SAFF Championship 2013: Team Profile – India

Sportskeeda continues the buildup to next month’s SAFF Championship by profiling each of the eight participating nations. Here we have a look at the most successful nation in the competition’s history, India.

FIFA Ranking: 145

AFC Ranking: 24

History

India undoubtedly have the richest footballing history among South Asian nations. They have featured in four straight Olympic Games, three Asian Cups and even qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup but eventually withdrew. In truth, the contrasts of their place in world football now compared to the 1950s and 60s is staggering.

Following their first official game against France at the 1948 Olympics, which ended in a 2-1 defeat, India won gold at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. They suffered a 10-1 hammering against Yugoslavia at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics but India came back stronger four years later at Melbourne, finishing fourth with the 4-2 win over hosts Australia being the highlight.

They didn’t get past the group stage at the 1960 Olympics in Rome but many believe it was their best showing at any international tournament as they were only narrowly beaten by Hungary and Peru while France were held to a 1-1 draw. Most of the players from the 1960 Olympics team were retained for the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and that side peaked together to win the gold by beating South Korea in the final.

For contemporary fans, regular appearances at the Olympics and success at Asian Games may not rate that highly but back in those days senior national teams of countries would participate in those tournaments and India certainly were one of Asia’s best. All the consistency and success between 1950 and 1963 came under the coaching of the legendary Syed Abdul Rahim, who passed away in June 1963. The team however carried on their good showing by finishing runners-up at the 1964 Asian Cup.

Syed Abdul Rahim was the head coach during Indian football’s golden era

But India failed to qualify for the 1964 Olympics and the downfall started as the ideas used by the AIFF were backdated which halted the national team’s progress while other Asian countries started improving. The bronze medal at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok remains the last real success at Asian level outside India while they have only played in the Asian Cup in two other editions (1984 & 2011).

For a country of India’s size and population, an average FIFA Ranking of 130 is an embarrassment. The only success they have achieved recently have come on home soil or at the SAFF Championship. The domestic league has been around for 17 years now and despite the improvement in the quality of foreigners, the competition is a fading brand hence the arrival of an IPL-style, a format which is quite popular in cricket, tournament is imminent.

The IPL tournament could revive the interest in the domestic game but the future of Indian football rests heavily on the newly-opened AIFF-FIFA academies. FIFA president Sepp Blatter described India as a ‘sleeping giant’ and it certainly hasn’t woken up yet.

SAFF Championship Best Performance: Winners (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011)

SAFF Championship History

Right from the very first tournament in 1993, India have been dominant in this competition. They have won six out of the nine editions, at least reaching the final on eight occasions and have never failed to make it past the group stage. As a proof for their dominance, India have even won the tournament with an U-23 side once and their overall tournament statistic reads (Played: 39, Won: 27, Drawn: 7, Lost:5, Scored: 69, Conceded: 22).

The first edition only had four teams with a round-robin format and India finished top with two wins and a draw to lift the regional title on Pakistan soil. Two years later, five teams participated following the late withdrawal of Maldives and India failed to retain the crown. They were beaten in the final after extra time by hosts Sri Lanka. The 1997 edition took place in Nepal and India regained the SAFF trophy in style. India scored 12 goals in four matches including five in the final against Maldives.

The tournament was held in India for the first time in 1999 with Goa being the venue and India retained the title by defeating Bangladesh 2-0 in the final. In the next edition in 2003 though, India produced their worst display. After scrapping through to the semi-finals with one win in three group matches, India were beaten 2-1 by hosts Bangladesh.

India saved further embarrassment by narrowly beating Pakistan in the third-fourth playoff and it remains the only edition when India failed to finish in the top two. India regained the title two years later in Pakistan and it was the first time they had won the competition since it became an eight-team event in 2003.

India won the 2009 edition with their Under-23 team

The 2008 edition started well for India as they had a 100 percent record in the group stage but struggled to beat minnows Bhutan in the semis and were beaten 1-0 in the final by Maldives. The 2009 title perhaps remains the most satisfactory although the performances weren’t eye catching. India were represented by their under-23 team under the legendary Sukhwinder Singh, who won his second SAFF title. The colts managed to score just thrice in five games but conceded only twice and kept four clean sheets largely thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya.

In the final, they defeated overwhelming favourites and holders Maldives on penalties. India retained the trophy on home soil two years ago to lift their record sixth title. Can they complete a hattrick this time in Nepal?

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.