The Men in Blue in Asia Cup Football, for the first time since Kapil Dev!

Cricket, Cricket, Cricket... Aarrrghhhhh..... Lets take a break and talk about something else, lets talk about the most famous sport in the World, no again thats not Cricket my friends, its Football, and lets talk about Indian football! Well, here is something to rejoice for Indian Football fans. The Indian Football Team is playing at the Asia Cup for the first time in 27 years, not much to be proud of, as we are one of the 6 teams, including the hosts Qatar to get a Direct entry to the Finals, others include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Korea Replublic and Korea DPR. Not just that we have been drawn into a tough group with heavyweights Australia, South Korea and Bahrain, who are ranked 26, 28 and 93 according to FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, while India is the least ranked team of the tournament, ranked 142.

Well, this is an achievement for a country obsessed with cricket, as the only time we had done this was when Cricket was gaining momentum, a year after “Kapil’s Devils” lifted the damn cup. I am not sure who to blame more, the Indian Cricket Team of 1983 or that guy Bhuvan (from “Lagaan”) who had better played Football instead.

Well, anyway, my excitement was short-lived watching Indian Team play at this level. We were playing the tournament favorites, Australia, who are Asia’s top ranked team. Well, more than anything, it was a mis-match TOP -vs- BOTTOM placed team. But the game gave me hope of watching our national team play at a higher level in the days to come.

I at first wanted to write about the game, but, what more do I write? Out attack sucked, defense was terrible and there was no mid-field. But bravo to Subrata Paul, who is my choice for Man of the Match, even after conceding 4 goals, he was the only entertainment for Indian fans. We missed Bhaichung Bhutia big time, and Sunil Chhetri didn’t live up to the hype. Well, I don’t blame him; it looked like we played with 8 defenders and 2 strikers and nobody bridging the gap. But Chhetri has pace and needs a partner to make him utilize it. We lost 4-0.

The next two matches were dis-appointing as well as, but the silver-lining was we improved a lot, we had mid-field linking with the attack. Defense had no idea what they were into and Subrata Paul established himself as probably the best Goal-Keeper of the League Stages. But. I have hopes that this tournament has done a lot good to the Sport in this Country. Hope that the Game improves and could at least see India qualify for this tournament and not get a ‘bye’.

Bye Bye.