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In 2000 during the launch of National Football League, the then AIFF President, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi talked about India’s World Cup qualification. He set up a goal for 2018 World Cup.
12 years later, last week, the current President, Praful Patel went a step further and announced that India’s goal is to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Why do the ministers have to make a populist statement? Does he really know about our own set-up in the country?
Winning the Nehru Cup after every two years is definitely not the yardstick to say that Indian team now can qualify for the World Cup. Such embarrassing comments only make people laugh.
India’s qualification for the World Cup ‘news’ has been doing the round for some time now. Given the current scenario, it’s not only impossible but difficult also.
The minister should be told about the tough qualification rounds where India doesn’t even cross the first round hurdle. That says a lot of the stiff competition at the qualification stage where India gets to meet the strong Gulf teams.
Last week, Jordan upstaged heavyweights Australia while Lebanon beat Iran in the fourth round of 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
With FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke sitting next to him, the AIFF chief announced India’s ‘dream’ minutes before signing a 10-year agreement with FIFA to develop the game in the country.
Why can’t the Minister talk sense? Mr Patel must know the pathetic state of the game in the country. I-League is facing lot of hassles. Not all state clubs are involved in the country’s League. The National Championship – Santosh Trophy – is almost dead. Federation Cup is also going through a difficult period.
If the minister’s comment on India’s qualification for 2022 World Cup made us laugh, hosting the U-17 World Cup was another big joke.
I don’t understand why our sports officials get mad in hosting international events? We’ll know what happened before and after the 2010 CWG.
But as Valcke said, FIFA will inspect the stadiums before awarding the hosting rights for the U-17 World Cup to India.
That’s where India will find it difficult to convince the FIFA officials. Our infrastructure is not up to the standard. As the FIFA general secretary made it clear, India will have to adhere to the expected norms if they hope to host the U-17 World Cup in 2017.
India will have to submit their bid before FIFA Executive Committee meeting scheduled for September 26-27.
Obviously, the infrastructure will have to be top class. The six venues needed for the tournament will have to be the best.
And, Valcke insisted that the infrastructure has to be top class and if India’s bid isn’t up there, they will have little option but to look elsewhere.
But which Indian venue has the best facilities?
Nehru Stadium doesn’t have a proper media enclosure. At the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, a power cut during the press conference surprised Argentine’s World Cup coach, Alejandro Sabella.
The dressing room at Ambedkar Stadium is awful. Mumbai doesn’t have a ‘fit’ football ground. Kochi and Chennai are more or less the same. In Goa, the last time I’ve heard, the floodlights don’t work.
In a nutshell, that’s the status of our infrastructures.
