India must play top teams in friendly matches: Chunni Goswami

NEW DELHI: Saddened by the dismal state of affairs in Indian football, former India skipper Chunni Goswami said the blame lies with the system and lack of professionalism in the sport.
Blaming both All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) and national coach Bob Houghton for the current condition of the game in India, Goswami said while the Englishman is reluctant to explore new options, the federation is simply indifferent.
"The national coach must look for the good footballers in the country. You have to go to different states and look for the talented players. Moreover, there should also be macro level monitoring from the AIFF," said Goswami on the sidelines of a function, organised to felicitate the members of the Indian football team of 1960 Rome Olympics, of which he also was a part.
Goswami, who captained India to the Asian Games Gold Medal in 1962, said India have to play against the top teams in the world in order to improve.
"Does the national team ever play teams like Japan, Korea, etc in the friendly matches? India always play the fourth division teams like Portugal in sea beaches, which obviously does not instill confidence in them. Our players have to play against the first division footballers if they want to do well," said the 73-year-old.
"When the whole world practices in the friendly games with the biggest teams in the world to find where they stand. We play matches with lower ranked teams," he added.
Accusing Houghton for not developing the junior players, the former footballing great who has played for India in 50 international matches including in Olympics, Asian Games, Asia Cup and Merdeka Cup, said the bench-strength is completely missing in Indian football.
"Houghton goes for the tried and tested players and does not want to try out the juniors. So, at times when the key players are injured there are not even suitable replacements. This in itself is a defeat for him," said the Padamshri awardee.
Asked about the allegations of racial abuse on Houghton, the ex-skipper said AIFF is to be blamed for it.
"Where is the monitoring? Who is checking him? You have given the football team to him and he will do whatever he likes to."
Houghton allegedly made racial remarks against referee Dinesh Nair during India's friendly against Yemen in Pune in October last year and 'derogatory' comments against Indian football.
Goswami, however, insisted that the coach must not be changed and allowed to continue but said that AIFF needs to be more active.
"No matter whichever coach you bring in, the AIFF will need to monitor him. Bring him into the consultation rooms," said Goswami, who made his international debut for India in 1956 during the team's 1-0 victory over the Chinese Olympic team.
He also insisted that proper structure and transparency was the only way forward for Indian football.
"You have to make three tires -- under-19, under-23 and under-26 and there should be transparency. If one man goes, he must know who is his replacement. In every field it function like this. If one goes, another is there to take his/her position," said Goswami.
Another former India captain P K Banerjee also agreed with his former teammate and said that the system is completely faulty and there is an urgent need to address it.
"During the developing years of a player, he should be given proper nourishment, which is the basic thing but is missing these days," said Banerjee.
Comparing the present time with that of the golden era of Indian football -- the 1950s and 60s, Banerjee, who was named Indian Footballer of the 20th Century by FIFA, said current bunch is not versatile.
"We lack versatile players. You need to have players in football who can change the game. But none of our players are like that.
"We were mentally, physically and spiritually fit and were always ready. In fact, if you look at our team we were all tall -- no one was below 5 feet 8 inches -- and also had good physic, which are the basic criteria for being a footballer. But to talk the least, the current players are not even tall to match the international standard footballers," he said.
The 74-year-old veteran, who represented India for 13 years and was one of the top scorers in Asia at that time, said he felt sad that Indian football's downfall over a period of time now has also resulted in players lacking in confidence.
"We were very confident and professional players. But these days, the players totally lack confidence," concluded the only footballer from Asia who has been awarded the Fair Play Award.