Gone are the days when India lived a footballing dream. Since the legendary Neville D’souza put the Aussies to sword ,not once, but twice to lead India to a commendable fourth place in the Melbourne Olympics, Indian football has been on the downslide and nowadays even qualifying for a major event is cause for celebration. Then, of course there was the pleasant surprise in the Nehru Cup ,but again ,they flattered only to deceive in the face of a mauling in Beirut.
Remember the talismanic southpaw Raman Vijayan. Fact, he was the last Indian to win the Golden Boot, that too way back in 1998. For the last decade or so the foreign brigade have taken over the reigns .The influx of these players in the league has definitely made the league more attractive but has left the local lads devoid of opportunities. Take for example, the young Tarif Ahmed of Mahindra United who has been fantastic in the little time he gets on the pitch. Now with the AIFF banning professional players from playing in local leagues, where do these youngsters get quality match practice and chances to stake their claim for a place in the national squad. Agreed that the influence of foreigners raises the game by several notches but nowadays clubs are depending heavily on one man armies. For example, Sporting Club de Goa rooted to the bottom of the league since their linchpin Dudu left. Churchill Brothers , cut a sorry figure without an in form Odafa. The idea should be to blend young Indian blood with the solidity and prowess of the foreigners. The AIFF is constantly running their mouths about the need for emergence of youngsters and all, but there has to be some incentive in the form of lucrative contracts or things of the sort. Fact, for the man of the match award in the ICL, the player receives 3.75 lakhs whereas in the I-league it is a paltry 5,000. Of course money flows in cricket but such a huge bridge is food for thought. Nowadays when even our young hockey stars are seen in ad campaigns(and I’m happy for them), footballers continue to be notable absentees ,instead we see John Abraham portraying some artificial soccer skills for big bucks. The progress in the publicity front has been good though and kudos to zee sports ,rediff and herald for their best efforts.
Infact, we are not the only nation having problems aplenty. We have England for company albeit on a different level. Fact, Kevin Philips was the last Englishman to win the Golden boot way back in 1999.Since then the Henry’s and Ruud’s have done the brunt of the scoring whereas the England internationals have either been sidelined with injuries or have shown shoddy form over the years more so on international duty. European powerhouses Arsenal have zero English players in their starting line-up with only Theo Walcott making cameo appearances and Justin Hoyte being a non entity this season. After the debacle against Croatia , there were debates about the foreign influence in the Premier League and most of them concluded with the sole statement that “there’s too much money involved to change anything in the near future”. The recipe Fabio Capello will probably have to churn out is to pick up 11 headstrong soccer players with fire in their bellies and the desire to give 110% whenever they play for their country (Owen Hargreavesque).And mind you he’s a master of that art.
Look at the more successful footballing nations like Italy and France. Fact, Francesco Totti and Luca Toni have been not only been top scores in Italy but also European Golden Boot winners in the last couple of years. Karim Benzema has become a household name in France after topping the goal scoring charts this season by some distance. The same goes with the Argentinean and Brazilian leagues. More importantly
these leagues have more home based talents coming through and taking their opportunities by the scruff of the neck towards their path to stardom. We know what happens when a group of hard working players ply their trade with each other in their respective country’s league. We have a Greece and it won’t come as a surprise if an underdog again pulls the strings in the upcoming Euro championships. Statistics do tell a story after all…don’t they??....
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