India’s football team have begun their preparations for the 2011 Asian Cup in earnest. Set to return to top-level competition after a gap of 26 years, Bob Houghton and his squad have spared no expense in preparing the team for the mega-event in Doha.
As Mr. Arunava Chaudari reported earlier today, the Indian football team is all set to travel to Portugal for a two month training camp. Out of the 30 probables that have been named for the squad, 29 will be travelling together to Portugal. Star striker Sunil Chettri is not expected to join the squad because of his commitments with the Kansas City Wizards, but defender Gouramangi Singh and goalkeeper Subrata Pal join the Indian side after failing to bag contracts at the Melbourne Heart FC and Vancouver Rapids, respectively.
The football squad will train at Vierra from July 1-31, which is 200 miles from Lisbon, on the road to Porto. The training facilities there are good, and the town also has a third-division team. The aim during the first month is to improve the fitness of all the players, since they are all part of different clubs and routines, and some have just recovered from injuries and are lacking the desired fitness levels, according to coach Bob Houghton.
In August, the Indian football team will travel to Lisbon where they’ll train at the training facilities of Sporting Club de Lisbon, a Portuguese Premier side.
“The players will train at the Sporting Clube academy for the month of August. The academy is famous for producing two World Footballers of the Year in Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo. We will play 10 friendlies there,” the experienced British coach said.
The ten friendlies scheduled are against second division teams.
On returning, the Indian football side has several international friendlies scheduled to keep up their international exposure, and to get used to different climates and tactical formations. The first will be against Thailand on September 4, which will be played in Bangkok. India will then host the return leg friendly against Thailand at the Ambedkar stadium on September 8th.
Four more friendlies have been planned for the month of September, and the AIFF has contacted countries such as Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, DPR Korea and China. Exposure against such football sides will surely help the Indian team’s resolve and mental fitness, as some of them have represented Asia at the World Cups too.
October 8th and 12th are official FIFA match days, and India will play two internationals, the opponents are yet undecided. In November, they will travel to either UAE or Qatar for their final preparations before the Asian Cup in Doha.
India have been drawn in a very tough group, in fact in the so-called ‘Group of Death’, which also features Australia, South Korea and Bahrain. But coach Bob Houghton is not too worried, and in fact believes it will be a good experience for the side.
“Australians in the ongoing World Cup is an ageing side. I expect many of them retiring before Asian Cup. The coach will also retire, so we can expect a new-look squad. That would be better for us,” said the experienced coach who had been at helm of affairs for national sides of China and Uzbekistan.
“Regarding South Korea, only a couple of players from their World Cup squad may not be in Asian Cup. Their coach may also be there. When I was coach of China in 1998-2000 I was against the South Korean coach for three matches. So we know what to expect from the South Koreans,” he said.
Given the unusual 6-month training camp that the Indian football team will go through, Houghton certainly expects to make an impact at the Cup. He also agreed that the Asian Cup carried more importance than the Asian Games, and pointed out that even countries such as Japan and China send only developmental teams to the Games. And with all the international friendlies lined up, given that the Indian football team performs well, it will certainly not do any harm to our FIFA ranking as well.
