So there again help me to understand why only India feel they are better than what they are.. Don't all nations feel their team is better than the results they got?.. Is there any specific comment coming from India that they are clear favorites fit such events.. Infact I see that Indian fans are really moderate and sporting in their nature unlike other SAFF nations
Glad that u visit our forum It's a real melting pot with lots of opinions.. Anyways don't get me wrong.. I asked these questions just to try and understand why u guys think like this about us
Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan want to host the next edition http://www.thedailystar.net/sports/football/bff-boss-wont-hand-over-the-saff-trophy-194182
I think India have always had that arrogance in the region, and this goes back to previous editions when they send youth squads rather than senior national squads. It has that arrogance that they think they can win it even with a youth team. Yet, I'm not sure where the arrogance comes from as they have never done anything outside of their own region. Everyone's waited and waited for them to make so solid progress in Asia but this has never materialised. It's just a big huge nation with lots of potential, but so do nations such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, they have potential, but how long do such nations wait.
Ok.. Try to see it from this angle..Bigger nation means bigger problems to handle.. In short more problems aided with poor governance.. India was once an Asian powerhouse but as the population grew so did the popularity of other sports and hence decline in football.. Sending youth teams to SAFF was always the best option because you need to give more chances to the talent than just the 11 who make up the NT.. Now for the upcoming u-17 wc we are yet to finalize the final squad since scouting into remote areas is a big challenge and we want the best to be selected.. Last few years invested in youth have already started reaping results.. We had 2 sets of u-16 and u-19 teams that played SAFF this year since the A team was already on an exposure trip.. Next 5 years will show the difference hopefully
When an Indian fan comes out and says that their squad consists of even state league players, fans like myself cannot help but feel a bit envious. Maldives has only 8 teams in their top division, so we have a talent pool of about a 100 players to choose from and most of them are nowhere near good enough. Add to that the fact that only 2 members of the squad are full-time professional footballers; Ali Ashfaq and Mohamed Arif. Both only turned fully pro after moving abroad to play in Malaysia and Myanmar respectively. We also have a 19-year old who made a great first impression; young Hassan Naiz came on against Bangladesh and scored with his first touch with an audacious flick. The boy is currently a college student who only made his debut in the first division this year. Another player, Ismail Easa, who played a major role in setting up the goals in that match works as a Port Officer who inspects containers docked up at the capital. Most of this Maldives squad will be playing in the South Asian Games, as Ricki Herbert has identified the fact that in order to build a decent team, he needs to utilize a younger generation of players and make them play together as much as possible. He's using the Welsh model as an example; when John Toshack took over the Wales team, he assembled a very young team and urged the fans to expect some heavy beatings and to be patient. His work has ultimately payed dividends, as Wales just qualified for a major competition for the first time since 1958 despite possessing one of the smallest talent pools in their whole confederation. So, what India are doing is not unique. When their fans keep going on and on about how young and inexperienced their squad is, ultimately it sounds a bit as though they're readying themselves for an untimely exit from the competition. All the teams went out of their way to name unusually young squads this time and it's a very refreshing approach. The Maldives team was weighed down by the older, underachieving egos during the last two tournaments and I for one am happy that Herbert felt the need to keep them away from the squad this time.
Bhutan's an interesting choice. Their home matches during the qualifiers were surprisingly well-organised, but whether they can host an 8-team tournament remains to be seen.
India 3-2 Maldives FT India should have converted those chances scoreline would have been 5-2,6-2. Good try Maldives, made the most out the mistakes and scored 2 goals.
Yeah, well, I don't know if the article means joint hosting? I guess that would be the way forward? Even joint hosting with India (as they get it every other edition)>
Well, not really. I understand your point, but then why do other big nations get it right? Brazil a prime example. How were they an Asian powerhouse? There track record in Asian Cup is barely existent. I'll give it that their early Asian Games record was decent. But not a power house. No, this wasn't. Plenty of opportunities for the Indian youth in the AFC Youth Competitions. I agree with bedding in 3/4 youth players with a senior squad, but not taking a whole youthful squad. If anything, if you get hammered it can destroy some players. You shouldn't forget, that something like 70% + in Asia are also doing this. Nearly every nation hopes to see big differences in the next 5+ years. Few rarely make it. You can't just put it down to having a big country as the main problem. ISL has shown football works in the country, but what it has also shown is that the clubs want quick fast results and employee expensive over the hill players. A few years ago, AIFF tried the Indian Arrows (Palian Arrows) which then died of death very quickly. There's never been a big 10 year plus plan in any Indian football. You've also got the state leagues for scouting, but who's ever been scouting??? I guess no one, as it's all been a quick rush to win rather than develop. Look at Bangladesh as another example, just yesterday announcing that the Bangabandhu Cup will be one of the biggest competitions in Asia by 2018 - that's 2 years away!! Yet, they left their players behind in India when all the coaches got a flight home!! They can't even organise a flight, never mind a top competition! Look at Pakistan, the amount of times I've heard about them qualifying for a World Cup when they can't even eneter a team in regional competitions. It's all bizarre. India, does have the potential, but they need to sort out their domestic competitions first. Foot enters mouth in a lot of these nations.
As I predicted, Maldives lack of defensive coordination and discipline cost them the tournament. India could and should have scored more from the chances they got. When we won it in 2008, we conceded only 2 goals. This time, we went out in the semis after conceding a whopping 9 goals. Good teams always build from the back and all the players are required to make an effort whilst defending. For us, our young back line has no leaders, and the more experienced midfield anchors made no effort to help them out whenever we lost the ball, leaving huge gaps between our attack-minded players and the back. As a result, the attackers looked tentative and fearful of conceding possession whenever they found themselves in India's half. And so our India hoodoo continues.
Dominate performance. Sri Lanka were out of the park in this game. 2011, 2013 and now 2015 repeat final. Afghanistan v India
Are Afghanistan really going to stop playing in this tournament? I think they should be given the chance to play as an invitational side in the future. CAFF was created merely for Iranian interests, and I think the rest of the nations of this federation have realized this. I think Afghanistan, and possibly Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan would be interested in having a go, because CAFF are not going to be doing anything.
Unless CAFA countries are serious of starting a Championship id like Afghanistan to continue to play in the SAFF Championship.
Very uninteresting article makes a great point in the fact that Afghanistan does not want to stagnate. Also Petar Segrt has hinted that there will be a CAFA championship. http://m.firstpost.com/sports/time-...o-big-a-fish-for-small-saff-pond-2566960.html
India sent youth team in SAFF Championship once and won it by that team! I think this enough to justify the decision of sending youth team.