The History India is most frequently associated with the sport of cricket but any expedition into the nation would reveal that football is rapidly encrypting itself into the people’s DNA. Not that football is something new for the Indians. India qualified (by default, after their opponents withdrew) for the 1950 World Cup but since the players did not wear football boots, they were not allowed to participate in the competition by FIFA. Although India have since then never come even remotely close to qualifying for the football World Cup, they have established themselves as one of the giants in South Asian football. India finished in an enviable fourth pace at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and won the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games. That was the golden period in Indian football as the national team reached the semi-finals of the next two Asian games. India also finished runners-up in the Asian Cup in 1964. The nation then agonizingly went through a barren patch but the nation managed to rise to the surface in the 1990s. India won the South Asian Football Federation Cup in 1993, 1997 and 1999 and then again in 2005 and finished runners-up in 1995 and 2008. India won the Nehru Cup in 2007 and reached the quarter-finals in the AFC Challenge Cup in 2006. India also won the LG Cup in Vietnam in 2002 under Stephen Constantine. The Indian national football team is affectionately termed as the Bhangra Boys. The squad is also known as the Wonder Boys and in recent times have come to be acknowledged as the Men In Blue(because of the blue colour of their shirt). At the moment India are ranked 153 in the world. The Squad Goalkeepers: Subrata Pal, Subhashish Chowdhary, Arindam Bhattacharya. Defenders: Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal, Anwar Ali, Gouramangi Singh, Syed Nabi, Sameer Naik Midfielders: N P Pradeep, Climax Lawrence, Renedy Singh, Clifford Miranda, Krishnan Ajayan, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Bungo Singh, Steven Dias Strikers: Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Abhishek Yadav, Tarif Ahmed, Sushil Kumar Singh Key Players Subrata Pal: India boast of one of the most capable goalkeepers in the AFC Challenge Cup’08 in Subrata Pal. He is currently the number one both for India and for his club Kingfisher East Bengal. Pal is known for his sharp reflexes and aggression and was one of the best players at the Nehru Cup 2007. Deepak Kumar Mondal: Deepak Mondal is a rock in the defence for India and is one of the best in the nation. The Mohun Bagan defender is expected to be at his best for India in the competition. Mahesh Gawli: Mahesh Gawli plays as a defender and the Dempo star has to remain strong as ever in front of the Indian citadel for his team to progress far in the competition. Climax Lawrence: Dempo midfielder Climax Lawrence is one of the best medios for India and shall be in starting line-up. He is a very responsible player who can be intelligently effective. Naduparampil Pappachen Pradeep: NP Pradeep is just 25 years of age but has already established himself in the starting line-up for India. He is a talented and skillful midfielder who has performing consistently for India since his debut for the national side in 2004. Mehrajuddin Wadoo: Mehrajuddin Wadoo is a Kashmiri footballer who has developed to be one of the best in the country. He is a versatile player who can play as a defender, a striker or a midfielder but he is usually deployed as an attacking midfielder both for East Bengal and for India. P.Renedy Singh: Renedy Singh is a veteran midfielder and is a much respected and loved figure in the Indian football scenario. He plays for JCT at the moment and shall be a threat for any team from the left side of the Indian midfield. Sunil Chhetri: Sunil Chetri is the darling of several Indian football followers and has been the find of Indian footballer in the last few years. The AIFF Player of the Year 2007 striker is known for his ball control, dribbling, shooting and work ethic and has been playing for India since 2004. He has already gelled in previous international competitions for India and the AFC Challenge Cup’08 could be one more tournament in which he exhibits his skills. Abhishek Yadav: Abhishek Yadav is also going to be an important part of the India set-up for the AFC Challenge Cup. The Mumbai FC striker is the tallest Indian footballer and is expected to be a star of the tournament. Tarif Ahmed: Tarif Ahmed is a recent call-up to the Indian national football team and scored in all the friendly matches that India played in Portugal recently. He is an upcoming talent that could come in handy in the competition. Baichung Bhutia: Baiching Bhutia is acknowledged as one of the best players in India and is lauded for bring Indian football onto the international arena. The Mohun Bagan striker is the current Indian national team captain and has been playing for the country since 1997. He has featured in 55 matches and has scored 21 goals and is the nation’s most capped player as well as the highest goalscorer. India’s hopes of winning the AFC Challenge Cup’08 very much rests on his shoulders. The Coach The Indian national football team is coached by Robert Douglas Houghton. He is popularly known in India as Bob Houghton and hails from England. Bob Houghton had a pretty much decent playing career as he featured for Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion and even managed Hastings United in the Southern League when he was just 21 years of age and was still playing for the club. He then managed Maidstone United and was assistant to (sir) Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town. After coaching several club sides outside England, including Malmo, At-Ittihad and FC Zurich, and the Chinese and Uzbekistan national football team, Bob Houghton landed in India in June 2006 and was an instant hit. Bob Houghton mingled with the Indian national footballers very well and slowly but steadily seeped in the foreign ideas of coaching into the Indian scenario. He guided India to Nehru Cup triumph in August 2007 but suffered a slight disappointment when India lost to Maldives in the final of the SAFF Cup in 2008. Bob Houghton is well respected within the Indian football community and the players like him very much, insisting that Houghton is someone who understands the players very well and treats them in likewise manner too. Recent Form India lost the final of the SAFF Cup 2008 in June to Maldives 1-0 in what was quite a disappointment for a nation that is considered as a heavyweight in South Asian football. The Indian national squad then traveled to Portugal for three friendly matches with local clubs and won all those matches. They beat Gouvela Select 2-0 with goals from Climax Lawrence and Tarif Ahmed. In their next match in Portugal, India beat GD Gafanha 3-2 at Estadio da Gafanha, thanks to goals from Bengo Singh, Sunil Chetri and Tarif Ahmed. India ended their Portugal adventure on a high by thrashing Gouveia Xi 4-0 with goals from Abhishek Yadav, Sunil Chetri and Tarif Ahmed. India lifted the first Gouveia Cup instituted by Mayor Alvaro Amaro. India then played a warm-up match for the AFC Challenge Cup in Hyderabad against Malaysia. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. Subhankar Mondal Goal.com
