Why are you looking at me? I did not say it. Newly appointed coach of Indian Soccer (Football) team, Bob Houghton, feels that way. Not only he feels that way but also he wants to implement it as soon as possible for the Indian national football team. After coming to India, in his first official press conference, Coach Houghton has made it clear that what Indian soccer team needs is to stand tall and taller only. So, if you want to be a part of Indian national team, you better try from now to increase your height or pray that Houghton's time as a coach finishes before you try your luck in the Indian team.
Bob Houghton said, ''In the World Cup final also, you saw a 6'5'' (Marco Materazzi of Italy) scoring a goal while both Italy and France had at least seven players of a height above 182 cm. You just can't dismiss the height factor.''
He also said in the press conference, ''When I took over, I was handed over a 35-member group and then I asked the (All India Football Federation) secretary to call some taller players and from those who came, Micky Fernandes and Freddie Mascarenhas will be travelling with the team to Vancouver (for a four-team tourney)''.
I agree with Mr. Houghton about the importance of having physically well built players but I think that putting too much emphasis on having tall players is a bad idea. AIFF President Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi has agreed to support Mr. Houghton to find taller players from states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi as the average height of people of these Northern Indian states are better than the rest of India. The only problem I can see is that people in this part of India are not big fan of soccer/football. Thus in pursuit of having tall football players, Indian Football Federation is going to search for talent in the wrong place.
You may wonder that this blog is about business and why I am bothering to write about soccer. I am bothering to write about it because cricket has become a multi billion dollar industry in India although very few nations in the world play cricket. Soccer has the potential to become even a bigger industry in India if India can perform well in Asian soccer. However, the only problem is that soccer is neglected in India. The unprecedented media buzz for World Cup 2006 in India has created a hope for revival of this sport in India. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is going to come to India on a 3 day visit soon. FIFA is gradually realizing the potential of Indian market too.
I do not agree to that only tall players can play soccer well because of the fact that we have too many examples like Maradona in front of us to discard that theory. Secondly, in Asia, Korea and Japan are among the best and the people of these two countries are not exactly famous for being tall. The same goes for India too. Anyway, I really like to see how much the Indian team can develop with this weird notion that only tall players can play soccer well but short players can't.
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Claiming the tall players best in the football field is not a good idea as football needs skill and technique for better performence. It is true that being tall is an extra advantage for a player but it does not mean that short players are inferior in the team. You gave some example of short players who are famous by thier own performence. I think Indian football authority should search some young and energetic players who cn play whole 90 minutes. I find Indian players lack of stamina and their coach should focus on it and then to their skill. I find searching tall players si optional here.
Posted by: Biplonb Kishore Deb | July 16, 2006 2:29 PM | Permalink to Comment