Last Ai??year, when Cardiff city striker Michael Chopra, expressed a desire to play for India, it certainly created quite a bizarre situation for the AIFF. Here was a player who has been plying his trade in English football for the past 10 years wanting to play for India.
Though he never made it to the English senior squad, a player with so many years of experience in the European circuit would have meant a lot to Indiaai??i??s chances in World Cup qualification.Ai??Of course, the move didnai??i??t fall through since Chopra didnai??i??t accept the AIFFai??i??s proposal of taking an Indian passport (India doesnai??i??t have the option of a dual citizenship).
Quite recently, I-league top-scorer last season and current Mohun Bagan striker Odafe Okolie also expressed interest in playing for the Indian national football team. Whilst the AIFF is still deliberating on this issue, the Nigerian’s desire once again poses a conundrum for the board as well as the fans.
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- Chopra came knocking earlier. Okolie now..
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There is no doubt about the quality that a player like Odafe or Chopra could bring in to India’s national team that has recently seen its greatest talisman in Bhaichung Bhutia retire. But the fact remains that any such action would only prove to be a temporary fix on an ailing footballing system in the country. There is no doubt an Indian football fan would love to see his country play in the FIFA World cup finals but one is afraid that it would simply mask – and not solve – the misgivings in the country’s sporting system.
India is languishing at rank 163 as per the official FIFA rankings. One could argue that it makes sense for the AIFF to do all it can to ensure that India manages to qualify for the World Cup finals, but rather than finding a temporary fix, the AIFF has to ponder its policies to sustain impact in the long run. In the AFC group that India is part of, the team is surrounded by super powers of the likes of Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and the likes. Thus, if the AIFF is to entertain any chances of qualifying it would only be through a meticulous approach that would ensure that there is something as an Indian core footballing ideal.
The reason for this is that every sporting superpower, be it in any sport, has created itai??i??s own identity in the game. In football, the likes of Brazil and Spain have stuck to their own identities when it comes to the style of play. This permeates through all levels of their footballing institutions right from the national team to the lowest levels of the club competitions. This makes it easier for the transition of talent from the lower leagues to the national team. More than that, it creates the Ai??impression as to how much the team stands by its ideals. By ensuring that the Indian team evolves a finite spirit, the AIFF makes its own job easier. It guarantees that it can create a certain footballing vision in the country that lasts more than just one major tournament, more than just a couple of years.
It will be tough and patience is the key. Something as dramatic as this cannot happen overnight. For this, the federation needs to commit itself completely. The main question arises now as to who creates that vision. For this it needs to ensure that it can draw from best footballing minds in the country to help in building the collective footballing vision of the country. Ai??A visionary needs to head such a project at AIFF.Ai??Ex-players and coaches must be actively involved in building the tactical nous that maybe required for achieving this ideal. Baichung Bhutia is already doing his bit in nourishing the Indian stars of tomorrow.
So the ball is in AIFFai??i??s half. It can decide whether to take the top-down approach of building the national team by including interested players like Odafe, who would easily justify their presence in the team and help inspire more football fans. Or they could take a bottom-up approach, wherein the federation overhauls and improves the lower level infrastructure in the country to suit its ambitions in the future.
Every football fan must have an opinion on this. Perhaps, it boils down to what one wants – short-term success with immediate returns or long-term success that deferred, but sustained, returns?
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Written by guest author Harish Narayanan
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