India needs all-round football development to advance: Houghton

DOHA - India coach Bob Houghton said Sunday that in order to challenge for qualification to continental competitions, all aspects of Indian football need to develop.

The Englishman, who took India to their first-ever qualification for the Asian Cup in 27 years by winning the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, said that the team made it to Qatar against all the odds.

“We have only one stadium and one training ground in the country. The stadium is an athletics stadium in Chennai, where there is no regular football.”

“That is why it is so difficult for us to qualify and we have to go outside the country to train,” he said.

For Houghton, who also coached in China, it is not surprising that a country like China had already qualified for the World Cup finals and made it to the Asia Cup on a regular basis.

“I spent most of my time in Shanghai and the facilities that were there were more than all the facilities we have in the entire country in India,” he said.

“And that is why we are were we are and China is where they are.”

If India wanted to compete at the top level they would need to invest in football development.

“We have made it to here and if we set out our goals we can achieve something,” he said.

“But if we want to continue moving forward we have to do something about domestic football. The local league structure needs to improve, the footballing infrastructure has to become better and coaching development has to take place.”

“If that does not happen, India can not reach its potential.”

Houghton’s team start their Group C campaign against Australia Monday and will also face Bahrain and South Korea and the coach said that even if they were the underdogs, he was hoping they could cause some surprises.

“In every competition there are surprises and I read that even the Australian captain Lucas Neill says he expects some surprises, but was hoping that they would not be one of them,” he said.

“I can name you five players in the Australian side who together probably have some 1,000 Premier League matches between them. With that kind of experience the Australian side is going to be a tough opponent for any team.”