New Delhi: As the senior men’s national team went winless and their women’s counterparts were unsuccessful in winning the SAFF Championship, there was little to cheer in Indian football in the bygone year.
But there is always hope, which would be the biggest driving factor for the national teams in the new year. But before that, the All India Football Federation must undertake a review of some of its back-firing decisions.
The men’s team had begun 2024 with much hope as they faced Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria in their AFC Asian Cup group but returned scoreless and pointless after conceding seven goals in three successive defeats.
Finishing at the bottom of the 24-team rankings was in no way a good advertisement, neither was the controversy that followed over head coach Igor Stimac’s termination.
Compensation Controversy
As the team returned downbeat from Qatar, Stimac’s position became untenable even though he didn’t quit his job outright. But after failing to deliver on his promise to drive the team to the third round of World Cup qualifiers, the Croat lulled the AIFF into sacking him and demanding huge compensation at the FIFA tribunal.
Staring at a huge hole in its already-stretched coffers, the AIFF settled with Stimac out of court but coughed up around $400,000 (around Rs 3.36 crore), leaving everyone wondering if the entire episode could have been handled in a smarter way.
It played a significant part while selecting Stimac’s successor as the AIFF picked FC Goa manager Manolo Marquez on a three-year contract, agreeing to pay him and his support staff on a ‘window-based basis’ for the first year.
Such ad-hoc appointment wasn’t limited to the men’s team as all of AIFF’s age-group national teams and senior women’s teams also suffered from ad-hoc coaching appointments.
Be it men’s U-17 team coach Ishfaq Ahmed, or his U-20 counterpart Ranjan Chaudhuri or Santosh Kashyap, who is at the helm of the senior women’s side, all are appointed on a tournament-by-tournament basis, and are two-timing at various Indian clubs.
As the men’s team have returned empty-handed from the men’s AFC U-17, and U-20 Asian Cups along with the failure of the women’s sides in SAFF U-16 and U-20s, talks of supplanting long-termism with short-term gains is also not justifiable.
Chhetri hangs up his national team jersey
In recent times, the only shining light for Indian football has been Sunil Chhetri, whose name regularly cropped up in the highest scorers list in international football alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
But as much the national team needed his scoring prowess, the 40-year-old called time on his 94-goal career after nearly a two-decade stint that made him one of the country’s finest-ever strikers.
Such has been India’s abject failure to score in the four matches under Marquez that some quarters have mooted the idea of Chhetri coming out of international retirement during the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and Singapore starting in March next year.
Marquez has yet to respond to those suggestions, just as the Spaniard has yet to speak on his reluctance to try out Vishal Kaith in place of the fumbling long-time No.1 keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Not only the keeping position, Marquez has a lot to ponder, having tried out several combinations upfront though none have been convincing.
In the domestic club football season, Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City established themselves as the dominant forces with the Indian Super League Shield and Cup triumphs respectively.
But it was Anwar Ali’s protracted transfer battle from Bagan to East Bengal, which the AIFF is yet to put an end to, that grabbed headlines, bringing back memories of the 1970s and 80s when snatching players form each other grasp was the norm.
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