the indian football magazineISSUE 10 || SEPTEMBER 2012

Glory RoadNehru Cup 2012

Dear Reader,In this issue, we look at Team

India’s performance at the recent-ly concluded Nehru Cup at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. We argue that the tourna-ment provided an opportunity for our youngsters to showcase their talents at the highest level , some of which managed to contrast with the usual amateurism that charac-terizes the game in our country. The national team has been lan-guishing in the late 160s and we look in to why we do not move up in spite of the Nehru Cup win.

In an exclusive chat with us, KB Chhetri, father of Indian cap-tain shares his perceptions about the game and his son’s aspirations with our readers.

We also have a special fea-ture on the 125th edition of the Du-rand Cup. We profile the final and look back at the legacy of the Du-rand. There is also a special photo journey of the Durand.

There is much more in this issue besides our main theme; we talk to a school kid from Afghani-

stan who questions our country’s hospitality.

We also have a feature on the Indian team’s win at the re-cently concluded SAFF Women’s Championship and other regular sections like ‘The Very Tough In-dian Football Quiz’.

Have a good read.

Aniket Mishra Editor

Editor Aniket Mishra

Creative Head Neelesh Vineet Saran

Marketing Head Shubham Garg

Editorial Team Isha Panwar K.S. Yashaswini

Editor of Photography and Design Syed Md. Hamza

Marketing Modhulika Bose

Contributors Amlan Jyoti Das Bharathan Chandrasekaran Isha Panwar K.S. Yashaswini Md. Asim Shaan Novy Kapadia Shounak Purkayastha Sajin Padiyath Wasi Manazir

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT:E 25 B, Vijay Nagar, Delhi 110

007. barefoot@sportsjournal.in mail@sportsjournal.in

+91 99118 85829

YOUNG PLAYER FEATURE: Md Yousuf p12

foot notes

CONTENTS

Exclusive Coverage and Final’s Match Report p32

The Legacy of Durand: Remembering the Best Finals p34

Interview: Dhruv Ratra p37

SAFF Women’s Triumph | Interview: Indian Goal Kepper Aditi Chauhan p14

Jerome Valcke’s visit to India p26

Interview: KB Chhetrip28

Barefoot in Cities:BS Mehra Interviewp49

COVER STORY: NEHRU CUP

Interview: Syed Rahim Nabi p22

All Match Reports p17

EXCLUSIVE: India’s FIFA Ranking explainedp24

YOUNG PLAYER FEATURE: Md Yousuf p12

CONTENTS

Photo Journey of the 2012 tournamentp40

Clicked Barefoot: NEHRU CUP SPECIAL p4

Special Feature: Durand Cup 2012

by Syed Hamzaclicked barefoot: Nehru Cup Special

4

by Syed Hamza

6

The Moment: Makon

Thierry misses the

decisive penalty

Chettri coming off an attempt to win

the ball during the SAFF Final.

88

10

Basking in the glory

young player feature: interview

Football doesn’t assure me a future: Md. Yusuf

A question is raised over Indians’ hospitality as the Subroto Cup’s arrangements come to light in an engaging conversation

with the young Afghan team’s skipper. -Amlan J. Das

“Cricket is prominent among the adjoining

areas bordering Pakistan, and as for some

other parts, football is more common”

12

It is the U-14 quarter final match of the Subroto Cup 2012 and at one corner of the partially filled stand, sits a boy watching the match with utter concentration. Donning a number 10 Barcelo-na jersey, this young lad is the Captain of the visiting Afghan team, Md. Yusuf. A class IX stu-dent of Esteqlal High School, Kabul, Yusuf is a smart kid who speaks perfect English and even Hindi. This is something which none of his other team mates are capable of and prob-ably adds weight to his selec-tion as the Captain of the team apart from the fact that he is a very good player. Yusuf loves freedom, and that is exactly what his school’s name signifies- Esteqlal- which in his native tongue means freedom. He is slightly philosophical in his observations and holds very deep thoughts about life, per-haps it’s the strife in his country that has made this frank young man think this way.I start talking to him with a very general question. How had their journey been in the tour-nament? With a faint smile on his face, he replies it was good, though he is hurt by the fact

“I want to be an engineer, because

playing football in Afghanistan

doesn’t assure me a future.

13

that their team lost their last match in a penalty shootout by a solitary goal. And before I can counter him with a ques-tion on his statement about win-ning the Cup this year, he adds, “We played a good game, but in penalty, the game doesn’t mat-ter, it all depends on luck.”About the facilities in the tournament so far, he seems uncomfort-able but some expec-tations could easily be figured out in his eyes. He mentions that, previ-ously, they were made to stay at the New Willingdon Camp in Army halls. Though it was com-fortable enough, the toilets were too far away. Then they were brought to the Ambedkar stadi-um and were informed that the dressing room of the stadium

would be allocated to them for accommodation, one which had an attached bathroom- a small dressing room for 18 people. Though he does not complain about being made to stay there, it can be well understood t h a t

he is not too happy about the same.Yusuf’s initial expression when asked about the tournament thus far makes more sense now. He has taken no offence from the organizers nor does he complain about them, but the only thing he wondered about was Indians’ hospitality.

As an answer to what this kid expected, I decide to take up the matter with the authorities. So I ask him about his expect-ed duration of stay in India and further plans. They plan to visit

Agra the next day, wish-ing to see the Taj Ma-hal. He looks forward to play football again in India and hopes that a situation may soon arrive in his coun-try when football as

a career would be encour-aged. The quarter final match that was being played out has already ended by then with As-sam losing 3-1 at the hands of West Bengal and the stadium starts to assume a bare look. I could not meet Yusuf again but I do expect to see him next year.

featureSAFF Women’s Championship: India defend title in style

Defending Champions came back from a goal down to retain the Women’s SAFF Championship when they de-feated Nepal 3-1 in the SAFF Women’s Championship Final on Sunday (September 16).

Down by a third minute goal scored by Nepal’s Dipa Adhikari, Supriya Rout Roy re-stored parity for India five min-utes later. Both the teams were locked 1-1 at the interval.

Changing over, In-dia doubled the score in the 64th minute through Bem Bem Devi. Kamala Devi completed the rout in the 87th minute.

AIFF congratulates

Women’s Team:-The All India Football

Federation AIFF congratulated the Women’s Senior Team for retaining the Women’s SAFF Championship in Colombo.

In a message, Mr. Praful Patel, President of AIFF hailed the performance of the team. “The Women’s team displayed exemplary character both on and off the field as they breezed past every obstacle on the way. I congratulate the players and support staff for the achieve-ment,” he said.

Mr. Kushal Das, Gener-

14

al Secretary, AIFF, also had a word of praise for the winning squad. “The AIFF left no stone unturned for the prep-aration of Women’s Team and the results are in front of us. I congratulate the team for the success.”

“Football in India is on the rise. AIFF’s aim stays to popularise the sport among the women. I’m sure the result will go a long way in inspiring a new generation to take up the sport,” he added.

-Courtesy AIFF Media Team

15

Our ranking can improve exponentially: Aditi ChauhanManipur recently won the Girls’ U-17 Subroto Cup and among the dignitaries present was Aditi Chauhan, the goal-keep-er of the Indian women’s foot-ball team that recently won the SAFF Championships in Sri Lanka. She was “very proud” of the fact that India retained the SAFF Championship. But be-yond being happy, she hopes that “this win should cause the authorities to give more atten-tion to girls’ football.” She es-pecially mentioned the perfor-mance of Bem Bem Devi, the captain of the team, who also scored in the final against Ne-pal.The women’s national team is ranked 52nd in the world rank-ings and she thinks that this “ranking could improve expo-nentially if only a little more attention is paid to encourage girls’ football at the grass root level.” The level of competition in women’s football is not as severe as that in men’s. So, in a way, it would be easier to im-prove our ranking there. Even though football in general does not receive the attention that is given to cricket in India, the condition of women’s football is far worse.Looking at the girls play in Sub-

roto Cup, she says, “Its great to see such young girls play so good and it gives me hope that our future is bright. If these girls are given proper support and training, they could do wonders in the future. Including girls football in this competition is a great effort.” But still there are not many competitions and no proper planning. “Whether any of these girls will take up foot-

ball as a profession is highly uncertain.”To the slowly growing fan base of Indian football, she urges that more support and attendance at the matches would be a big morale booster. After all, the feel of playing for the country is completely different when you know that you country is watch-ing you and supporting you.

COVERSTORY

COVER STORY

Glory Road: India on track for Lakshya 2022

Cautious Start As defending champi-

ons, India surely had a lot on their mind as they faced Syria in wet conditions, a precursor to more of such weather to come. Neither the weather nor the op-ponents could stop India from registering their maiden win in this edition as skipper Sunil Chhetri, substitute Anthony Pereira netted a goal each to propel their team to victory.

After an unyielding half hour for both teams, they trudged back to their dress-ing rooms in the 34th minute as rain beat down for a good 15 minutes. Back on field after the break, India’s resolve was clear when Chhetri scored in

the 45th. Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring in the 45th min-ute when he headed in a Clif-ford Miranda centre and then Anthony Pereira lobbed it over rival custodian Ahmed Alsalih who was out of position.

The players were trying their best to display the new style with the one twos. And they were perfect. Instead of lobbing long balls across the turf, the Indians concentrated on delightful short passes which were executed to perfection.

Let’s take for example Sanju Pradhan’s cross from the right flank in the 20thminute. The No.8 India winger drilled a lovely cross for Francis Fer-nandez to expertly tap it down. Chhetri just could not connect

properly.Central midfielder Lenny

Rodriguez was gelling well with Francis who was deployed just behind Chhetri in a 4-4-1-1 sys-tem. The back four was looking like a well oiled machine, clos-ing down efficiently inside the box.Subrata Pal was a treat to watch as well. He palmed away a well placed header with confi-dent ease.

Changing over, India were chose not to play flam-boyant but seemed to be gain-ing on the rival defence. Soon, Pereira sent a shot over Syr-ian goalkeeper Ahmed Alsalih who was out of position to take India two ahead in the 82nd minute. Syria opened their tally with Alaa Alshbbli chipping in

PIC: Chhetri scores the

first goal against Syria 17

cover story: match reports

too late in the 89th. As India recorded their first win, Sunil Chhetri was declared Man of the Match.

India trounce Maldives

Put him to save a penal-ty and he is concentration per-sonified. But Subrata Pal can’t bear the tension of watching his own team taking a penalty. With Maldives’ defender Mo-hamed Sifan handling a Syed Rahim Nabi centre in the 45th, the referee pointed to the spot.

As Captain Sunil Chhe-tri put the ball on the spot and then ran to take the spotkick,

everyone in the Stadium had their eyes fixed on the Mal-dives goal – except Pal. He pre-ferred to turn his back and rely on the cheer of the crowd. The very next second, he jumped up, more than anyone in the Stadium as the crowd roared. Chhetri by then, had sent Mal-dives goalkeeper Mohamed Imran the wrong way and was celebrating with his other team-mates.

Chhetri scored another in the second half – off a div-ing header (70th) as India, cheered on by a vociferous crowd breezed past Maldives 3-0 in their second match of the Nehru Cup, thus moving onto 6

points. Syed Rahim Nabi com-pleted the rout heading in the second goal in the 53rd minute.

Wim Koevermans’s wards displayed some delight-ful football on the pitch, playing in the new style of theirs with relative ease than their previ-ous outing. Their passing was clear, crossing much more ac-curate and after it kicked-off, it was just a matter of time before they would take the lead. The visitors had a tough time try-ing to thwart the flankers, es-pecially Nabi, who was darting down the left flank every now and then.

One such run had three defenders trying to stop him.

18

He crossed and before Chhetri could meet his delivery, the ball struck the hand of Mohammed Sifan. The referee pointed to-wards the dreaded spot. Chhe-tri stepped up amidst deafening cheers. The India captain, who scored around the same time in the last match, did not disap-point his adulates.

Change of ends brought more misery for Maldives who came into the match high on confidence after their win against Nepal. Nabi this time got his name in the scoresheet heading home from a Clifford flag kick in the 53rd minute.

India looked more men-acing as time wore on. Chhe-tri’s second goal came in the 70th minute. Francis found his

captain unmarked and drilled an inch perfect cross and the Sporting Lisbon striker stooped to glory.

Chhetri also stayed un-lucky when he hit the wood-work after getting past the goal-keeper. But it didn’t matter.

Man of the Match: Sunil Chhetri

Rain, Nepal hold India

After defeating Maldives in their second match, Coach Wim Koevermans substituted Denzil Franco and Anthony Pereira for an injured Nirmal Chhetri and Sanju Pradhan re-spectively. The match was de-layed for half an hour thanks

to heavy rains and began on a wet pitch against a 10-man Ne-pal team. To their credit, they adjusted smoothly to the unex-pected change in pitch condi-tions. Sunil Chhetri’s reverse kick in the 19th was to no effect and with India almost assured of going ahead with enough points to call their own, they continued playing safe on the injury-prone turf. Nepal, how-ever, gave it their all. And with the likes of an in-form Rahim Nabi, the Indian defence did well to neutralize any advances from an inspired Nepal. Nabi stopped Jumanu Rai’s prog-ress to the post in the 22nd minute.

19

cover story: match reports

In the second half, Robin Singh stepped in for Clifford Mi-randa and Francis Fernandes switched to the flank to yield the successful 4-4-2 formation which had worked versus Mal-dives. Nepal goalie Kiran Chem-jong’s mighty save prevented a sure shot which Chhetri set up for Pereira. Jewel Raja’s magnificent lone run in the dy-ing minutes of the game could not do better, either. After just a minute, in the 81st, Jewel’s curling shot found Chemjong’s palm only to be shot in again by Robin Singh, which fortunately for the keeper, came right back at him. The 89th minute saw Bi-kash Chhetri being shown out for dissenting after India were awarded a free kick. As the fi-nal whistle sounded, India and Nepal shared stage to equal honours but India with 7 points from three matches were way ahead of Nepal with just a sin-gle point.

Cameroon exhibits class

In the dress rehearsal for the final, Wim Koevermans did right to rest some of the main-stay players like Sunil Chhetri, Subrata Pal, Lenny Rodrigues, Raju Gaikwad and Anthony Pereira in the final league match versus Cameroon.

Bite Samuel’s 2nd min-ute goal gave Cameroon a very early lead but the Indi-ans showed no signs of being cowed down further. The mid-field showed enough character in the likes of Syed Rahim Nabi. Passes were well planned and a couple of chances to score went awry when Manandeep and Jewel Raja didn’t manage to net two sure ones. Goalie Karanjit Singh made amends in a show of superb reflexes when he saved an Ebanga Bertin penalty, styled on Pirlo, in the 40th after it was awarded when

Nabi tripped Eloundou Charles in the box. Against the untiring and physically superior African team, Captain Gouramangi Singh and the defence held fort.

Changing over, the 51st minute witnessed a Nabi header off a Mehtab Hossain corner . It was till then, going just over. Soon after, Jewel went between two defenders but Robert Ntolla denied him just in time. In the 83rd, Sanju Pradhan broke down the right and essayed perfectly for Den-zel Franco but his header went straight to rival goalkeeper Nk-essi Hosea. India managed to hold Cameroon at bay save a solitary goal in favour of their opponents in what was hoped to be a re hearsal for a finer show in the final.

20

The Battle Royale

India proved their worth again and yet again in a series of wins throughout the Nehru Cup Tournament spread over 12 days. Rob Baan must be all smiles for a team that has man-aged to give a good start to his dream of a quality team ten years down the line as outlined by the Lakshya 2022 Master Plan.

In what shall be remem-bered for some time to come, India fought Cameroon fiercely in the title clash of the biennial international tournament as a 25000 plus crowd roared its ap-proval and encouragement. In-dia beat Cameroon 5-4 (2-2) on penalties to win the Nehru Cup

for three consecutive editions.India made early inroads

when Clifford Miranda’s free kick was nudged into the goal by Gouramangi Singh in the 19th even as Cameroon’s erring goalie Ngome Lawrence was later replaced by Nkessi Hosea, owing to an injury. Makkon Thi-erry’s equalizer caught Subrata Pal unawares and the match remained at 1-1 till half time.

In the second half, Na-bi’s kick into the box from the middle of the field could not be connected by Gouramangi even as he strained every sin-ew. In the 52nd minute, Kingue Mpondo with the formidable reputation as Cameroon’s top scorer netted the second goal, taking them one ahead. In-

dia was not far behind as they strove to create one opportu-nity after another with skipper Chhetri equalizing. The 83rd minute could have seen anoth-er goal with Francis Fernandes’ marvelous cross into the area.

Extra time saw Robin Singh’s header whoosh over the bar in the 105th and pres-sure started building up as a delirious crowd awaited pen-alties as the whistle blew af-ter the 120th minute. Robin Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Denzel Franco, Mehtab Hossain and Clifford Miranda scored from the spot. Makon Thierry let his team down as he hit the post and India tasted victory at 5-4 .

21

22

People label you as a ‘versatile player.’ Do you agree?

I started my career as a striker. Under Subhash-sir (Bhowmick), I played side back and from then on playing in dif-ferent positions became my forte. I am com-fortable anywhere. During training, Coaches keep on joking that I should have remained a striker!

You know the other day I was sharing this story with the Cameroon No.3 player – the same guy who right back in the last league match (which we lost) but came on as a substitute to play upfront in the final. He was amazed to hear that I started off as a striker. But I am really happy with the manner things have shaped up in my career. I’m ever ready to play any position the Coach finds me suitable.

cover story: Syed Nabi interview“We are a better side than what the FIFA Rankings suggest”

Days after winning the Nehru Cup for the third time in a row, versatile Team India player and one of the heroes of the

tournament Syed Rahim Nabi spoke at length to Debayan Mukherjee about the win, his performance, and the road ahead.

Are India are a better side than what the rankings proj-ect?

We have to play more on FIFA dates. We are a side on the rise and that has to reflect at the World stage. The clubs have to be support-ive as well as the media. Playing on FIFA dates will make the result count. Surely, we are much much better than the FIFA Rankings. “We have to play more on FIFA dates.

We are a side on the rise and that has to

reflect at the World stage.”

What do you think was In-dia’s X-factor in this Nehru Cup?

The never-say-die attitude instilled by our Coach was special. He used to tell us ‘I want the Cup.’ He wanted to focus on the task ahead and not be overawed by anything. One game at a time was his philoso-phy. It helped us tremendously.

We are confident bunch and the camaraderie stays fantastic. The days in the Camp just flew by. If you noticed, in the final, we closed their movement on the flanks and that did the trick for us.

“We are confident bunch and the

camaraderie stays fantastic”

How do see the future of Indian football?

I reiterate, it’s on the right track and heading in the right direction. We need to invest judiciously and pro-mote the game. AIFF is doing a great job for sure. Media has a role to play as well. They need to highlight budding talent. The likes of Lenny (Rodrigues), Francis (Fernandes), Denzil (Franco), Nirmal (Chhetri), Jewel (Raja), Manan-deep (Singh) deserve the limelight. It is not only about Nabi, Sunil (Chhetri), and Subrata (Pal).

13

cover story: exclusive

India’s FIFA rank of 168 explained

Here is something to ponder upon. When the month-ly official FIFA World Rankings comes out tomorrow – the 5th of September – one would ex-pect India to be placed much higher than their current rank-ing of 168, right? After all In-dia managed to beat Syria, Maldives, Cameroon and drew with Nepal, all ranked higher than India. If your answer is an exuberant yes, the truth unfor-tunately is a dampening “No”. In fact to further exacerbate the situation, India are expected to fall to 170 with a tally of 101 points.

Why? The reason is simple and understandably fair: The Nehru Cup is not held on FIFA dates.

Though India managed to beat the 59th placed Camer-oon national side in a penalty-shoot out in the final, a fair and unbiased view would probably justify that beating a Cameroon side without the likes of Sam-uel Eto’o, Alexander Song and Carlos Kameni cannot merit India the same ranking points as beating a full strength Cam-eroon team. The same reason explains the lowly ranking of India despite the fact that this

is their third Nehru Cup tri-umph since 2007 added to the

2 SAFF championships India won in 2009 and 2011. None of these victories matter.

So how are these rank-ings calculated?

In a nutshell, here is the formula which was revamped by FIFA in 2006:

Ranking points = 100 x (Result points x Match Status x Opposition strength x Regional Strength)

And the terms explained :

Result points: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss

Match Status: Basi-cally the significance of a

match. The match status multi-pliers are as follows:

Note: AFC Challenge Cup matches are treated as In-ternational Friendlies and are worth a multiplier of 1.

Opposition strength: Subtract the Opposition’s FIFA ranking from 200. So for a team ranked 10th = 190 points; 50th=150 pts and so on. Any-one ranked below 150 is worth 50 points.

Regional strength: This signifies strength of the oppos-ing Confederation.

Their values are as fol-lows:

Now a further catch.

24

Match status Multiplier Friendly match x 1.0 FIFA World Cup and Continental cup qualifiers x 2.5 Continental cup and Confederations Cup finals x 3.0 World Cup finals match x 4.0

Confederation MultiplierUEFA (Europe) 1.00 CONMEBOL (South America) 1.00 CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) 0.88AFC (Asia) 0.86CAF (Africa) 0.86OFC (Oceania) 0.85

-by Sajin Pandiyath

Confederation MultiplierUEFA (Europe) 1.00 CONMEBOL (South America) 1.00 CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) 0.88AFC (Asia) 0.86CAF (Africa) 0.86OFC (Oceania) 0.85

Matches played a while ago are not of the same value as that played over the last 24 months. Hence the date weighting is as follows:

Combining all of the

above factors, FIFA calculates the points accumulated over a period of 4 years as shown be-low. The points collected by In-dia in the past 4 years amounts to 106 and hence the ranking of 168.

A relevant albeit labori-ous study of India’s matches in

the last 4 years combined with FIFA’s ranking formula clearly justifies India’s current rank-ing. In the last 21 months, India have played around 29 Inter-national matches of which only 8 have been pertinent in view of FIFA rankings – 3 games in 2011 AFC Asian Cup, a two-legged 2014 World Cup qualifi-er versus the United Arab Emir-ates and 3 more in the 2012

AFC Challenge Cup. These 8 matches resulted in 7 losses and a 2-2 draw, which came at home against the UAE in the World Cup Qualifier.

The perplexing FIFA rankings which places England(3rd) above Brazil (13th) despite poor recent perfor-mances

So how signifi-cant are the FIFA rankings?

A valid question. And the answer: Very significant. The FIFA rankings become very im-portant when the draws for the World Cup Qualifiers are drawn out. The higher ranked team are expectedly given byes to the advanced rounds of qualifica-

tion. India, themselves received a bye to the second round in 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers after they sneaked into to 27th rank in Asia while the teams ranked 28th-43rd slogged it out in the first round. This means having to play one tie less in the long road to World Cup qualifi-cation. Also, higher the ranking of a country greater would be the chance of meeting a lower

opposition in qualification.This explains the re-

strained celebration of the na-tional coach Wim Koevermans who insisted that India play more International games on FIFA allotted dates. ”We have to carry forward the momen-tum. We have match dates in October and hopefully we will be playing some good interna-tional sides,” said Koevarmans after the Nehru Cup triumph on Sunday.

Former India captain Baichung Bhutia has frequently opined that India’s ranking are not a fair reflection of her qual-ity and potential. However, the truth remains there is nothing to warrant the statement; at least nothing that FIFA officially recognises. The legacy left be-hind by each Nehru Cup vic-tory remains unquestioned but winning on FIFA dates with the senior national side would right-fully remain the immediate pri-ority of Wim Koevermans.

(The author has not in-cluded the two International Friendlies in 2011 vs Malaysia for reason of obscurity of the status of the game. Any clarifi-cation on the same is welcome.)

24

Date of match Multiplier Within the last 12 months × 1.0 12–24 months ago × 0.5 24–36 months ago × 0.3 36–48 months ago × 0.2

YEAR AVERAGE WEIGHT AVG. WEIGHT 2009 25.5 20% 5.1 2010 86.7 30% 26.01 2011 53.2 50% 26.6 2012 48.73 100% 48.73 TOTAL 106

-by Sajin Pandiyath

featureI want to see football as India’s number one sport: Valcke

Even FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke feels that FIFA Rankings do not al-ways reflect a team’s quality. The likes of Syed Rahim Nabi and Sunil Chhetri have been maintaining after the Nehru Cup treble that India are a much bet-ter side than what the Rankings project. It is just that they need to play more matches against top teams on FIFA dates.

On Wednesday at a me-dia gathering in Le Meridian, Valcke accompanied by All In-dia Football Association (AIFF) President Praful Patel, reiter-

ated it once again.“FIFA Rankings are very

complicated. To climb the lad-der in the Rankings you need to play on FIFA dates and with competitive sides. Otherwise your good show won’t reflect,” said the 51-year old French-man after President Patel high-lighted Nabi’s statement that In-dia are a much better side that what the Rankings reflect.

Valcke added: “Our main objective is to develop domes-tic football and bring it to the In-ternational level. People would take interest in watching Indian

Domestic League and not only the English Premier League and the La Liga and so on. We want to improve the infrastructure as well. India is a large market and I cannot believe 1.2 billion peo-ple only play just cricket!”

“This is the reason we want the U-17 World Cup in 2017 to take place in India. We aim to host World Cups in countries where football devel-opment is needed. India stays out primary area of focus. We have our Developmental Office in India,” he continued.

“That proves how seri-ous we are about the 10-year project with India from 2012 to 2022. In between we have the 2017 World Cup bid and India’s aim to qualify for the “2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”

AIFF President Patel stressed that Valcke’s visit stays a very significant one. “We have been fortunate enough to have President Blatter and now Mr. Valcke visiting India in the same year. It depicts FIFA’s in-terest in developing football in the country.”

26

“Indian football is

poised for a big leap after

days of hibernation.

“Indian football is poised for a big leap after days of hi-bernation. We are ready to shake off our stupor and FIFA is supporting us in our cause. They are going out of their way to see India emerge as a strong Footballing Nation.”

He further maintained: “We have to start early if we want to grow as a Footballing Nation and develop the grass-roots. We need to work on the pyramid and that stays the main objective of the Federation. Un-less we have players being nur-tured from the age of 12-13 we won’t grow.”

“We have a 10-year Mas-ter Plan called Lakshya and our aim is to qualify for the 2022

FIFA World Cup.”Patel and Valcke also

signed an agreement on this cause.

Complementing Patel’s statement, Valcke felt “India stay an integral part in Asia’s development.”

“India has to be one of the centre point of Asia to develop football,” he opined. “There is no football without grassroot programme,” he re-iterated. “The U-17 World Cup is the perfect milestone to suc-ceed it.”

Patel signed of on a smil-ing note. “Our request to FIFA would be to provide us with a dozen more artificial turfs. FIFA has provided us

27

with eight of them previ-ously during the ‘Win in India in India’ project. Financial help is also solicited.”

Sitting next, Valcke smiled. “It would be a pleasure to serve Indian football. You know I cannot want to see foot-ball as the number one sport in the country. Sorry cricket!”

-Courtesy The AIFF Media Team

“Indian football is

poised for a big leap after

days of hibernation.

of) has young Under 23

players. That helps him raise his fitness levels and bring out his A Game.

Barefoot: How do you see him shaping up there?

KBC: What is encourag-ing is that he is not warming the benches there. He is constantly getting to play even if it is just for a half. He had just spent a month there when he returned

for the Nehru Cup and I could see a marked improvement in his game. He seemed to be sharper. I would want to score more goals and keep improving his game.

Barefoot: Previously he had played in the MLS but chose to return to the I League. What went wrong then?

KBC: Sunil has always been someone who is sur-rounded by friends. That wasn’t

28

interviewMy dream is to see Sunil play in the Champions League: KB Chhetri

A football enthusiast to the core, K.B. Chhetri still makes it a point to go the grounds and watch match-es while he can manage. Barefoot caught up with him at the ongoing Subroto Cup. In a freewheeling chat, he talks profoundly about his son’s success and what maligns local football amongst other things.

Barefoot: How has the Sport-ing Lisbon journey been so far for Sunil?KBC: It’s been an amazing opportunity for Sunil to ply his trade at Sporting. In India he couldn’t have learnt more and was tending to stagnation, hence the endeavour to play abroad. At Sporting, majority of the B team (that Sunil is a part

the case there and hence he chose to terminate his 4 year contract after 6 months. This time its different though, he is enjoying his game in Lisbon, and hopefully he will establish himself soon.

Barefoot: On a differ-ent note, you have been closely

associated with Delhi football. What do you feel is wrong with the current state of affairs?

KBC: It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that we have 60-70 old clubs in the city and we still can’t produce an I League side.

I remember going to

watch football matches in the city back in 1997 with young Sunil and we used to come across empty stands. It’s a little better now but there is a lot still to be done.

Some teams like Delhi United FC are doing well though and I wish them luck for the fu-ture. If they can continuously work towards improving their academies, I’m sure we’ll soon have a representation from the capital in the I League.

Barefoot: Finally, where would you like to see Sunil in a couple of years?

KBC: I would want him to break in to the first team of Sporting soon. The ultimate dream would be to see him score in the UEFA Champions League some day. That will pro-vide a huge boost to the game in our country.

29

Special Feature: Durand 2012

Special Feature: Durand 2012

special feature

Air India overcome Dodsal to lift Durand Cup

The All-Mumbai Final between Air-India and Dodsal FC ended up being a nerve wracking affair with Air India ultimately reigning supreme at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi to lift the 125th edition of the Durand Cup.

The newest addition to Indian Football, Dodsal FC (backed by the Dodsal Enter-

prises) have made an impres-sive start to their season by reaching the final of the Du-rand Cup in just their first ma-jor tournament. Air-India on the other hand have seen a mass exodus of players with some of their best players including Manandeep Singh and Sand-esh Gadkari leaving for greener pastures, after a pretty impres-

sive campaign last season un-der Santosh Kashyap who has since moved to Mohun Bagan.

The first chance of the game was created by Micky Fernandes for himself when he beat a couple of defenders and seemed to have all the time in the world to shoot but then blazed his shot over the cross-bar from outside the penalty

32

Durand Cup Feature

box. Dodsal FC were forced to make a change in the 18th minute when India International NP Pradeep came on for the in-jured Henry Gangte.

The change seemed a blessing in disguise for Dodsal as NP Pradeep’s quality clearly reflected in the team’s perfor-mance. His deliveries from cor-ners and free kicks became a constant threat including a dis-allowed goal for K Thoi Singh after Air India’s goalkeeper failed to punch clear Pradeep’s long-distance free kick. How-ever the best piece of football came from Air India when Sou-vik Chakraborti played a one-two with Thomte H that saw Thomte flick a ball over a de-fenders head to lay a perfect ball for Souvik. However, Sou-vik dragged his volley just wide off the post.

A frantic tempo gripped

the game in the second half as both teams created wave after wave of attacks on both goals.

With ten minutes for the game to go, Kali Alauddin was sent off for his second yel-low card. Dodsal FC’s Surku-mar Singh stepped onto the pitch four minutes later and the game went into extra time. AI’s Shouvik Chakraborti at-tempted a long ranger but was collected safely by the Dodsal keeper. While Surkumar’s addi-tion failed to up Dodsal’s per-formance even as AI’s Vijith Shetty failed to convert a free kick that was awarded just out-side the D, shooting it over the crossbar, and after 15 minutes of extra time, a penalty shoot-out was announced.

In what was expected to be a nerve wracking penal-ty shootout, it turned out to be just that. M Pradeep convert-

ed for AI and N P Pradeep for Dodsal shot it over. AI’s Vijith Shetty scored on the second penalty and Sunil Kumar fol-lowed to narrow the margin. At 2-1, Harshad Meher’s shot was blocked by substitute goalie Avijit Ghosh and this was fol-lowed was Demba’s calm goal which brought the score level at 2-2. Meanwhile, Sukhwinder Singh replaced AI skipper and goalkeeper Harshad Meher. Pratik Chaudhary’s shot ran into Avijit Ghosh’s able hands and similarly, on Dodsal’s turn, Surkumar’s was also collected. Ramandeep Singh on the final penalty for AI executed a timely goal and could not be matched by Dodsal’s Rafi who missed as the stadium erupted into wild cheers for the Durand Cup 2012 champions, Air India.

33

The Legacy of Durand: Remembering the Best Finals

special feature

Going down memory lane, it is interesting to note that from 1888-1940 British regimental teams held sway in the Durand tournament. The first civilian team to contest the final was the East India Rail-ways in 1927. The East India Railways team consisted en-

tirely of Indian players. Assisted by stalwarts like Samad, Rabi Ganguly, P. Bhowmick and B. Das the Railway team went down gallantly to the York and Lancashire Regiment by 0-2 in the final. Young Men of Delhi once reached the semi finals as did Aryans Club of Calcutta

in 1936. The first team to break the monopoly of British regi-mental teams was the mighty Mohammedan Sporting when they beat the Royal Warwick-shire Regiment 2-1 in the final, with goals by centre forward Hafiz Rashid and the slick in-side left Saboo.

-by Novi Kapadia

34

1950 final, Hyderabad City Police vs Mohun Bagan:

The 1950 Durand final, the first in Independent India was a memorable match. The final at the Delhi Gate stadium played on 31 December 1950 made Hyderabad City Police a legend in Indian football. Play-ers from this team, like defender Aziz, midfielder Noor Mohamed and outside right Moin became legends after this match. In that unforgettable final they trailed Mohun Bagan 0-2, till ten min-utes before the final whistle but equalised through Laiq in the last seconds. This dramatic fight back won the hearts of the crowds. Thousands of fans invaded the ground mobbed and chaired Laiq. Some en-thusiastic fans even kissed him and one over-exuberant fan in his eagerness to congratulate his hero, bit him on the cheek. Poor Laiq reached the dressing room with blood flowing down his cheek and he had to nurse it for a week and miss the replay, which his team won 1-0.

1959 final, Moham-

medan Sporting vs Mohun Bagan:

In the post Indepen-dence era, this was Moham-medan Sporting’s finest year. They annexed the Rovers Cup in grand style humiliating East Bengal 3-0 in the final. A year earlier they had won the DCM tournament in Delhi again beat-ing East Bengal 3-1 in the final. Their all conquering team took Delhi by storm in the Durand tournament of 1959. Given a bye to the second round, they trounced local club Young Men 6-1.

In the quarter final they overwhelmed powerful EME Secunderabad 5-0. Next came the semi final with East Bengal. Mohammedan Sporting’s bril-liant forwards set a blistering pace and trounced East Bengal 5-0, the biggest margin of loss for the latter on Delhi soil. Many consider their forward line of 1959, outside right Yamani or Sayeed Ahmed, inside right Rehmatullah, centre forward Oomar, inside left Salauddin and outside left Moosa as the best in the history of the club, after Independence. Their vo-

ciferous supporters from the Walled City area were anticipat-ing a comfortable win the final against Mohun Bagan and their second Durand triumph (the first was in 1940).

In contrast Mohun Bagan’s march to the final had not been spectacular. They beat local Simla Youngs 4-0, then Indian Air Force (IAF) 2-1 in the quarter final and hold-ers MRC Wellington 1-0 in the semi final. Bagan had quality players like stopper back Jar-nail Singh, midfielders Kempiah and Narsiah, forwards K. Pal, Chuni Goswami and Varahalu. They were a good team but not spectacular like Mohammedan Sporting.

On January 6, 1960 Mo-hammedan Sporting beat East Bengal in the first semi final and had four days rest before the final. However then hubris set in. The players decided to utilize the three rest days be-fore the final to travel to Ajmer and pay their respects at the fa-mous Ajmer Shariff Dargah. On the journey back they did not get reservations in the train and traveled uncomfortably sitting

35

up all night. This took its toll on the players. They drew the first final 1-1. Arun Ghosh in his first year with Mohun Bagan gave an outstanding display in curb-ing the menacing Moosa on the left flank of rivals Mohammed-an Sporting. Jarnail Singh with his hard tackling curbed Oomer and Rehmatullah. Both got in-jured and Rehmatullah did not play in the replay.

In the replay Moham-medan Sporting were jaded. Two accurate swerving corner kicks by Chuni Goswami saw right winger Dipu Das heading in majestically. Varahalu scored the other goal for Bagan. Mo-hammedan Sporting reduced the margin but lost 1-3 and their dream of winning the Durand final evaporated. Winning the Durand final has become a holy grail for Mohammedan Sporting as they have still not repeated their 1940 triumph. They lost in the 1980 Durand final to Bagan 0-1 and the 1992 final to JCT 0-1. Their supporters still feel they missed their chance of annexing India’s oldest tourna-ment in the winter of 1959.

1940 final Mohammed-an Sporting vs Royal War-wickshire Regiment:

The first Indian team to win the prestigious Durand tournament was Mohammedan Sporting in 1940, when they beat the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 2-1 in Delhi. Centre forward Hafiz Rashid and inside left Saboo scored the goals for the winners. The tournament was held in Delhi that year as

due to the 2nd World War, the summer capital did not shift to Simla. 100,000 people in an amphitheatre like stadium (now the site of the National Sta-dium built as the venue for the 1st Asian Games held here in 1951) witnessed this final, with seating on only one side. Emi-nent Muslim politicians flew in from distant cities like Calcutta, Dacca, Hyderabad and Bhopal for the match and people came in trains from far-off cities. This victory by a team consisting of eleven Muslim players was a massive boost to the Muslim national movement.

The final played on De-cember 12th 1940 at the Irwin amphitheatre, an enclosed polo ground was supervised for the first time by an Indian referee the late Captain Harnam Singh. In those days he was a civilian sergeant in the Army Office in the Delhi Cantonment. Recall-ing that special day, Harnam Singh remembered that “he had been given a police escort from his house in the Canton-ment area to the National Stadi-um.” At the ground, prior to the final there was a minor crisis. The British linesmen, Warrant Officers Oliphant and Greene refused to officiate as they said it was below their dignity to be linesmen under a compara-tively junior referee like Harnam Singh. They felt slighted and backed out from the match. The Durand Society organisers tried to persuade the recalcitrant duo but in vain. As per tradition, the Viceroy of India, then Lord Lin-lithgow arrived at the Stadium,

to inaugurate and attend the final. When informed of the crises, Lord Linlithgow threat-ened to court-martial Sergeant Officers Oliphant and Greene. Sensing trouble, the reluctant duo relented. Musing on the in-cident, Harnam Singh had said, “This tension only added to my pre-match nervousness. I felt better when Major Porter gave me a hot cup of cocoa laced with brandy.” The match went off smoothly and Harnam re-called that “I must say that the British linesmen, once they had agreed, did a competent job and gave me full cooperation.”

The victory in the Durand tournament was the culmina-tion of a memorable decade for Mohammedan Sporting. They won the Calcutta league for five years in a row in the mid-thirties (a record which remained un-surpassed till East Bengal won the same title for six years in a row from 1970--75). Their suc-cesses led to frenzied support and Muslims in every city of un-divided India were fans of this team. They had an abundance of money and were the first In-dian team to play with boots, fo-cus on proper diet and physical fitness for their players. Due to their massive support, Moham-medan Sporting was the first to procure talent from all over In-dia. Full backs Juma Khan and Bachi Khan came from Pesha-war and Quetta in the North-West Frontier Province. Goal-keeper Usman Jan was from Delhi and ace scorer, centre forward Rashid from Ajmer in Rajasthan

36

interview

Football in India is at an Inflection Point: Dhruv RatraOut to shore up and develop the beautiful game in India, Anglian Holdings couldn’t have opted for better platforms- with the initial buy out of a stake in Shillong’s Lajong United to extending their support for the ongoing edition of the Durand Cup, they sure are helping the game prosper. Barefoot caught up with CEO-Dhruv Ratra who talks about their involvement in Durand and Indian football as a whole in a freewheeling chat.

EXCERPTS:Barefoot: How did the

idea of supporting the ongoing Durand Cup came along?

DR: The idea of sup-porting the Cup came about rather rapidly when we heard that a major sponsor had pulled out at the last moment. Given our recent footballing tie-ups, both within and outside of India, with an idea to raise the stan-dard of football in India, it made

emotional and logical sense to support such a prestigious tour-nament in which many quality young teams and players are vying to establish themselves.

Barefoot: In what ca-pacity are you looking to sup-port the tournament?

DR: In the short term we are providing financial and some operational support with the expectation to work out a longer-term agreement.

Barefoot: With your share in Lajong and now sup-port for Durand, can we expect more involvement in Indian football in the years to come?

DR: Absolutely. We realize that it will take a long time to raise the standard of the sport, both in terms of playing as well as management. As a result, you can expect to see more involvement in the sport at all levels going forward.

37

Barefoot: We did come across the youngsters from La-jong who went over to Denmark as part of your initiative, are you also planning to set up a fulltime academy here?

DR: The 3 players had a very productive trip to Denmark and impressed our Danish col-leagues. Regarding the setup of a fulltime academy in India - this is something that is being discussed and evaluated at the moment.

Barefoot: On a differ-ent note, would you agree that Indian football hasn’t gained popularity because of the con-sensus that it’s not a financially viable investment for corpo-rates? Do you see that chang-ing in the years to come?

DR: I think there are a number of factors at play here including what you state above. However, the fact re-

mains that a number of kids and youth play and watch the sport, and this is something which if handled correctly will help the country produce great players and teams in the future. Many years ago, the US was not very good in the sport, but once they realized that a number of girls and boys played the sport from a young age, they were able to establish systems by which tal-ent could be spotted and nur-tured for the next level. The important thing is that India has the raw materials in terms of the numbers and enthusiasm. We are just lacking the opera-tional expertise that will help shape and guide these boys and girls going forward. This is already changing today for the better, but there is much more that needs to be done.

Football in India is at an inflection point. As Mr. Blatter

recently said, India is starting to wake up and it’s just a matter of time before which India begins to find a foothold on the global stage. In recent years, we have experienced tremendous suc-cess globally in business, crick-et, individual sports and now the time has come for football. However, as one can see from the experiences in the US, Ko-rea and Japan, we should not expect things to change over-night - it will be a gradual pro-cess, one that starts from the ground up. And the success of the sport in India will be de-pendent not only on the players and coaching staff, but also on the fans, journalists and blog-gers, all of whom play an ex-tremely important role that will help shape the next Messi or Maradona.

38

by Syed Hamzaphoto journey: Durand Cup 2012

DUFC coach Promod

Rawat marshalling his

troops.

40

by Syed Hamza

42

44

Definite moment in

the final- the goal that

wasn’t to be.

46

Not just a game, a way

of life!

48

How did you initiate the idea of coming up with a football club in Delhi?

I used to be a sportsperson myself and I guess that contrib-uted to my extended interest in the game. While my peers have encouraged and taken up other sports, football always appealed the most to me and thus the whole idea of supporting a proper club in Delhi came along.

We, at Delhi United have jumped three divisions in the last 5 years and in fact have lost only 2 matches in the 62 played. The suc-cess has spurred me on through-out.

barefoot in cities“We hope to be in the I League soon”: BS Mehra As the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi wore a familiar deserted

look, I managed to catch hold of the Manager cum Principal sponsor of Delhi United Football Club- BS Mehra. Owner of Colour Design India and Indian Solar Solutions, Mehra indulges in football

and spends a major amount of his day nurturing his pupils at the club’s academy in Dwarka. In a chat with Barefoot, he talks fondly

about the club, how it came in to being and the journey so far.

How important do you feel the role of corporates is for the growth of football in our country?

In my opinion all of corporate want to engage in the game because of the instant connect that they have with football. But the interest hasn’t managed to widespread acknowledgement and promo-tion, I feel we would be much better off supporting football and other Olympic sports and bring them up to the level of mass hysteria which we come across for cricket in our coun-try.

How has the Delhi United journey been so far?

It’s been great, in fact to be honest, it couldn’t have been better. From getting ourselves registered in the 2nd division of the Delhi League to winning the title in 4 years, we definitely have made history. The whole team, the coach- Pramod Rawat, our cap-tain- Rishi kapur and the club president- Lal Bahadur Basnet have been pillars of strength throughout and its their collec-tive hard work which has made Delhi United what it is today.

Can we soon expect your

team to be a part of the I

League B Division?

We were a little unfor-tunate to have not made it last year. We couldn’t fulfill the AFC requirements last year and although DUFC were the reign-ing Delhi League champions, we couldn’t participate in the I League B division. The paper-work has been taken care of though and hopefully we’ll be there this year.

49

“We have set up a couple of acad-emies in Dwarka and Thyagraj Stadium and hope to produce players who will take the team forward. .”

What is more impor-tant though is the nurtur-ing and management of the players in Delhi and we’re trying to do that. We have set up a couple of academies in Dwarka and Thyagraj Stadium, Delhi and hope to produce quality play-ers who will take the team forward. Our dream has been to play in the I League and if all goes well we hope to be the first team based out of the national capital to do so.