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It is a known fact that Indian football is nowhere near popular among the masses and it is likely to remain that way if fans are consistently denied a chance of watching their national team play.
The latest such happening took place on Sunday in Bangalore as fans were not permitted inside the Bangalore Football Stadium to witness India’s practice match against Bengaluru FC, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
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Until Sunday morning, even media wasn’t given permission to witness the game as the Indian team management wanted it to be a closed-door friendly and had communicated the same to the state and district football associations.
However eventually the media was allowed to watch the match but fans expressed their frustration of not being able to witness the action on various social media platforms. Earlier this month, fans also didn’t get a chance to see the international friendly between India and Tajikistan. Clearly there is an audience willing to watch Indian football but they have been consistently deprived for one reason or the other.
NOT THE BEST PREPARATION
The match itself didn’t go well for Wim Koevermans’ side as they went behind in the first half with former Liberian international John Menyongar putting Bengaluru FC in front from a penalty.
Bengaluru FC had started the game with all four of their foreigners including newly-signed Sean Rooney but couldn’t hold on to their lead in the second half as Lenny Rodrigues equalised for India.
This is the only match practice India have got ahead of their SAFF Championship 2013 opener against Pakistan next Sunday.
It would be wrong to make judgments about India’s result against Bengaluru FC especially considering even Bangladesh lost to one of their club sides and Maldives were beaten by Thailand U-19s. But Koevermans’ side could have probably done with another international friendly before the tournament.
The Dutchman is expected to announce the final 20-man squad for SAFF 2013 within the next 48 hours.
