OVERHAUL FOOTBALL IN INDIA

Kota in Rajasthan is well known for its coaching centres. Students accompanied by their parents flock to Kota to prepare for entrance examinations and secure admission in the premier engineering and medical colleges in India. The parents leave everything behind and stay with their children to provide them support in the  endeavour of the children.

When the FIFA World Cup fever sweeps across the world India  has not made it to the tournament. India with a population of 1.47 billion - No. 1 in the world in population -  finds it extremely difficult to put together a team of footballers to compete with the best in the world. It is a tournament where 39 year old Lionel Messi scores a hatrick in the first game Argentina has played. It is a tournament where 40 year old Vozinha, the Cabo Verde goalkeeper, made 7 stellar saves to hold off tournament favourites Spain to a draw in the 90 minutes encounter. 

Indians truly lack the fighting spirit on the football field that they display at Kota.

Football in India is top heavy. The Indian Football Association doesnot know how to manage the game in India. Indian football is in need of a Kota like approach.

India at the moment is incomparable with debutants, Cabo Verde and Curacao, two teams whose exploits in the current World Cup far exceed expectations.

Cabo Verde with a population of 530000,  is an Island country and archipelago in the Central Atlantic Ocean off Western Africa.

In a thrilling game,they shocked  Spain, 2010 World Champions and current European Champions, with a goalless draw  

Curacao with a population of 158000, is an island  in the southern Caribbean Sea,  north of Venezuela. 

Curacao, rank outsiders, had shocked Germany and the entire world when they had scored the equaliser after Germany's first goal against them. Though they lost out 7 - 1 at the end, they showed they knew how to play the game.

Perhaps, India will be able to compete in the World Cup to be held four years from now if the IFA is dismantled and Football is brought under the direct control of our dynamic Prime Minister who knows how to get things done. 

A drastic overhaul of football in India alone can raise the level of the game in India. Football must be nurtured from grassroot levels. Discover them young must be the constant call. 

If teams from a population of 530000 and 158000 can debut at the World Cup, it is apparent,  the team from a population of 1.47 billion can certainly make its debut there. 

We have the talent.