India vs Palestine International Football Friendly, 6th February 2013

Arsenalkid700 · January 2013

@Rudra That is why I am not complaining about Afghanistan... at least not as much as I used to. Fine, take advantage. After all, isn't Qatar doing the same right now. Only 11 of the 23 men squad from the Asian Cup were Qatari born. Japan also had a spell of Brazilians in the late 90s-early 2000s. Hell, I look at my United States team and see a bunch of German born players who's only connection to America is their fathers being American soldiers who "knew" a few German women from the 40s (true stories).

As for India, I dont like it. That is why I say "no" whenever people ask me if I would join India (yes, I know their is a 0% chance of ever happening, just being hypothetical). I mean, I have Indian roots, I am Hindi. I understand Hindi. I have been to India. I am close to my roots religiously but I dont take that into consideration for a developing country like us. Taking the cheap way out. Michael Chopra for example. Would he really provide popularity for Indian football? Temporary popularity maybe but not full time. It won't provide sponsors to automatically to jump on the bandwagon as well. Same with Nitan (who I believe would not be that big of an increase in terms of our overall quality) and others.

I would rather the AIFF to focus only on the youth. Look at the guys coming up (below age 20)... Brandon Fernandes, Uttam Rai, Daniel Lalhlimpuia, Myron Mendes, Raja Rawat, Narayan Das, Thirthankar Sarkar (off the top of my head). And not to mention the soon to be batch of U14 players.

We are producing youth right now that have the potential to be one of the best in Asia (World is stretching it). We need to focus on that and improve our grassroots. That means encouraging the I-League clubs to invest more in the youth (salary cap being a very, very, good thing) and starting to "expand" the youth league. Add the top Academies like SESA and TATA to the U20 league. Instead of seeing those Academies in the I-League 2nd Division they should be competing with players their age. Also enact an overage player rule. Only 3 overage players are allowed to play. I would have loved it if last season Mohun Bagan's U20s played with Barreto a few times. Get a "father-figure" to help the club.

Also make the league gradually longer and allow clubs to use their training grounds as youth league stadiums (for teams with no training ground, use the main stadium then).

By the time these U14 kids are aged 16-17 I would like to see the I-League U20 be split into the I-League U21 league and I-League U18 league. And divisionalized. If your Academy/Youth system fulfills a certain criteria then put that team in Division A and the rest in Division B. Like the Premier League in England is doing. Also I would like to see both the U21 and U18 leagues being at least 6-months long, played with groups (India is top big for a single-table youth league... no investor would be happy with the costs) and at the training grounds.

This, to me, is better than foreign based players as it really helps in the long-terms. The foreign based players are temporary while the youth leagues and a proper professional league are lasting.

Arsenalkid700 · January 2013

> Shah476 said:
> Still dont agree with need of challenge cup after 2015 if no auto slots...
>
> Im due a debate with @Arsenalkid700 on tht at some later time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_AFC_Asian_Cup_qualification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_AFC_Asian_Cup_qualification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_AFC_Asian_Cup_qualification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_AFC_Asian_Cup_qualification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_AFC_Asian_Cup_qualification