We have a friendly with Vietnam tomorrow, in Pune:happy:, might go and watch it if I come home from college on time.

 

Hopefully you did. Chettri hat-trick.

 

Unfortunately I came home from college at 7, so couldn't make it

Great performance from Chhetri though. He's a really good player, would certainly benefit from a move abroad. Europe is a dream of course, but even if he get to play in a more competitive league in Asia, it would be better.

There's another game on Wednesday, India v Yemen, I'll definitely try to get to that.

 

It seems that Bob Houghton might get sacked from the NT job for some 'racist remarks' he said last October.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ndia-to-sack-British-football-manager-Bob-Houghton-over-racism-allegations.html

 

Our board is a corrupt bunch of idiots in any case. They've been trying to find a reason to sack him for ages. I think their first claim was that we didn't advance to the Asian Cup 2nd round alm:

Can't see who we can get to replace him though. There isn't an Indian manager good enough, and after the experiences of Constantine and now Houghton, not many would be willing to work here. Bruno Metsu or Philippe Troussier maybe.

 

Our board is a corrupt bunch of idiots in any case. They've been trying to find a reason to sack him for ages. I think their first claim was that we didn't advance to the Asian Cup 2nd round alm:

Yeah, I read about that and was like :googly: p
So, what's the real problem the board have with Houghton, that his salary's too high?

 

No, that he believes the best way to improve the team is to play more games.

 

LOL, the board should just ignored him. That's what our FA did anyway everytime our coach asked for more games.. :undecide:

 

Yeah, there was once a phase where they did when Constantine was in charge, and we didn't play a friendly for close to 2 years alm:

 

I read the article and it said the Indians have horrific conditions for football within the country. Not a single football stadium. That's enough of a crime to call for UN sanctions in itself, but why don't Indians like football? How can we make them more interested?

 

A last-minute Sathyan Sabeeth strike saw India scrape into the second qualifying round for the 2012 Olympic Games with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Myanmar.

India went into the match at the Youth Training Centre leading 2-1 from the first leg but the ASEAN side turned the tie in their favour with a 64th minute Kyaw Ko Ko effort that not only levelled the contest but also handed Myanmar the edge on away goals.

With time running out it was looking like Mai Aih Naing’s mark in the first leg in Pune would prove telling Sabeeth scored in the 90th minute to ensure India’s progression.

India, looking to reach the football tournament of the Olympics for the time since 1960, join ten other Round 1 winners and the 13 highest ranked teams (based on the qualifiers and tournament proper at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) in the Olympic Football Tournament London 2012 Asian Qualifiers Round 2 draw, which takes place at AFC House on March 30.

http://www.the-afc.com/en/womens-olympic-qualifiers/33683-myanmar-v-india

 

With the cricket world cup in progress, the papers don't even bother reporting what the football NT is doing. Thanks for the update totow!

 

Looks like the morons that run the AIFF are finally going to sack Houghton. Bunch of ****ing retards they are. The best coach we've had in God know how long, and they're trying desperately to get rid of him on some trumped up charges so they won't have to pay severance. There's most likely to be a "mutual consent" agreement by Monday. It's clear the players want him to stay, the board is now thinking of sanctioning Sunil Chhetri for actually saying it (on Twitter, where else?). They claim they can't afford Houghton's wages, although it's quite obvious where the AIFF's money really goes. Corrupt politicians running it, what else can one expect?

Completely disgusted :yuck:

 

Seems like our FAs are runned by pricks. Any chance that fans will make an uproar and demand a revolution in the AIFF? p Is the I-League run smoothly btw?

 

Fans? What fans? People only turn up to watch the Calcutta Derby, and that'll go no matter what the AIFF does.

And the I-League is run by a bunch of retards, what do you expect? They can't get proper broadcasters, so the matches are only shown on some obscure Bengali channel sometimes played at 3:00pm in 40° heat, the scheduling is all over the place, there's a cup competition 2/3rd of the way through the season, player contracts are often ambiguous and badly drawn up, they never seem to decide on how many teams they want in the league (10, 12 or 14 depending on their whims), it's a complete mess. It's quite a miracle we qualified for the Asian Cup in the first place, scheduling is shambolic, there's years when we don't play a single friendly, while last year we played 18

 

India football (Nico/Jeff, please merge)

Homes, what is the Indian national team like atm?

edit- lol you fuckbunny

 

Homes, what is the Indian national team like atm?

Cricket they are World Champions.
Football they are World Losers.

 

whats the coach like, she any good?

 

she is the president.

 

She got sick silks.

 

:howler:

 

So I've just seen a story about Alan Gow, a Scottish lad who was a decent SPL player with Falkirk a few years back, has moved to Kingfisher East Bengal. He's only 28, & plays in midfield. So what standard are East Bengal at exactly?

 

They'd struggle in the Scottish First Division, and most teams in the SPL will thrash them at least by 3 clear goals.

 

they would struggle in Arab league too. Dempo or Goan teams are the only Indian team which may have little chance.

 

PSV (or rather Phillips) creating links with the Indian football board.

Rob Baan - the new TD of India

Obviously will probably take 10 to 15 years at least until India has a side anywhere near North Korea or Saudi Arabia if it was to improve, let alone Japan or South Korea so mostly about (the now smaller becoming) Phillips making a name for itself for the time being

 

Bayern Munich is scheduled to play in January a friendly match against Indian NT.
Next month is busy with three friendlies two against Malaysia on November 13 and 17th
and e are also playing against Zambia on 19th November. Plus there is a friendly against South Africa on January 7th 2012

 

Heard on the radio of another Scottish player possibly moving out to India, striker Tam McManus is holding talks with an unspecified club next week.

 

Soccer-Cannavaro and Pires set for India's IPL style league
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/soccer-india-league-idINL3E8CG1IK20120116

Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, former Argentina skipper Juan Pablo Sorin and Frenchman Robert Pires are set to feature in an Indian soccer competition that hopes to replicate the success of cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL).

Some 30 players and six coaches from abroad will be auctioned off in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata for the Feb 25-April 8 league, one of the organisers told Reuters.

"We have signed seven 'icon' players for the auction and each of the six teams will have one such player with a $600,000 salary cap," Bhaswar Goswami, executive director of Celebrity Management Group (CMG), said by telephone.

Other signed-up players - all at the end of their careers - include Portuguese midfielder Maniche, former Nigeria international Jay-Jay Okocha, ex-Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, former Spain striker Fernando Morientes and Argentine Hernan Crespo.

CMG has signed a 30-year deal with the Indian Football Association for the league and has floated tenders for franchises, Goswami said.

"We have started with six teams this year, all in the state of West Bengal but have already been approached to expand the league to other parts of the country.

"Every team will have $2.5 million to spend in the first year. They will have a maximum of four foreigners and a compulsory six under-21 Indian players in their squad."

Cricket's IPL dazzled fans with its exciting Twenty20 format, player auctions, post-game parties and heavy advertising and now soccer - which has failed to produce top-class Indian players - is poised for a similar makeover.

"The league is modelled on Major League Soccer and of course IPL," Goswami added.

"We saw the hype and buzz around players' auction in IPL and feel it can be an equal success. It's a brilliant concept. We expect owners to make profit much earlier than the IPL franchises.

"We are also in the process of finalising television rights for live broadcast across south-east Asia."

PIRES PROUD

Goswami was bullish about the league's future and said it would change the face of Indian football.

"I think we made the right start by launching it in West Bengal. It's a soccer-crazy state where 100,000 people throng to watch the local derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

"It will be a massive boost for local players to share the dressing room and field with some of the players they grew up idolising."

A cricket-dominated India ranks a dismal 162 in FIFA's soccer rankings despite its huge population but some 60 million Indians tuned in to the English Premier League's 2009/10 season, roughly the same as Britain's entire population.

Nearly 120,000 fans gave a rousing farewell to Oliver Kahn in the German goalkeeper's 2008 Bayern Munich swansong in Kolkata and Argentina great Diego Maradona virtually brought the city to a standstill during his visit the same year.

No wonder World Cup winner Pires is keen to give the new league a shot.

"Since I had nothing in Europe, why not try something completely unknown? I've never been over there," Pires told L'Equipe's website (www.lequipe.fr).

"I am proud to be the first Frenchman to go and play there. And eight weeks is nothing."

Pires said he would at least be paid 395,000 euros for seven weeks.

"If my (club) president likes me, it could be 790,000 euros ($1 million). It is a lot of money. I'm not going to complain about that am I? But I'm not going there as a tourist. It's a new adventure."

 

The donkey and John Barnes as managers

Hope it will increase the profile of the game in India

 

Barnes alm: Jesus Christ.