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| The taskmaster |
| Aabhas Sharma / New Delhi Sep 06, 2009, 00:17 IST |
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Indian coach Bob Houghton on the challenge of putting India on the football map.
Three years ago when Bob Houghton took over the reins of the Indian football team, he was more than aware of the task that lay ahead of him. He knew that the players lacked confidence, the infrastructure wasn’t good and the overall scenario was grim. Yet, the man who has coached club sides in Europe along with the Chinese national team wasn’t daunted. “The challenge to build a team is always an exciting one,” Houghton says.
The Indian team has definitely changed under Houghton’s charge. Winning two Nehru Cups, qualifying for the 2011 Asia Cup in Qatar, and most importantly a sense of self-belief that has been instilled are the feathers in Houghton’s cap. When he took over, he saw a team which was lacking in confidence. “They had a defeatist attitude,” Houghton says. He realised that he first needed to change that attitude.
The recent Nehru Cup win has pleased Houghton a lot, as the team came back from the dead to win the tournament. “The team deserved it as they worked hard and never gave up even when the chips were down,” he says. What change has he brought to the team? Backing one’s own ability is something he says he instilled in them. There is enough talent, and he says that the likes of Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri are excellent players. Praising Bhutia, he says that he is an example for young footballers in India.
Though Houghton says that there is still a long way to go for the team, and knows that expectations will rise, he insists that he is not under any pressure. He keeps a tab on the junior teams as well, and is pleased by the progress they have made. He still rues the fact that the infrastructure in the country is almost non-existent, but hopes that things will change in the future. “They have to, if the nation wants to progress in football. There are no two ways about it,” he says.
Houghton is confident that the team will climb up in the FIFA rankings if they continue to play the way they have been recently.
Football in India needed a hard taskmaster, and in Houghton the country has got one.
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