Failing to move ‘forward’

Indian football lacks quality strikers, a situation which has forced coach Marquez to summon Chhetri out of retirement for upcoming friendlies. Sidney Kiran looks at reasons for the vacuum

Bengaluru: On the night of March 7, just when most Indians would have completed their supper, the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) thought it would serve up a nice tasty dessert to the fans when it announced that superstar Sunil Chhetri had been coaxed out of retirement to help the national team in the upcoming friendlies this month. It thought the surprise news of the return of the 40-year-old striker, who had called time on internationals last June but still plays for Bengaluru FC, would bring a smile on the faces of the followers of the Blue Tigers. While it did to some, even they, like most, were able to see the sad reality of the state of Indian football today. 

For a nation with a billion plus population and a reasonably strong following for the game, it’s beyond comprehension that they do not have a decent striker to get the job done that new coach Manolo Marquez had to fall back on a veteran to fulfil those duties. Marquez, who replaced Igor Stimac as the head coach last July but is also simultaneously managing FC Goa in the ongoing Indian Super League in a bizarre arrangement between the club and embattled AIFF, can’t be faulted for bringing back Chhetri.

In the calendar year 2024, India played 11 games and couldn’t post a single win, losing in six of them. Worse, they failed to score in six of those games. And given how the Indian strikers/ wingers have been misfiring in the ISL this season, it was understandable why Marquez and AIFF had to send an SOS call to a man who has been in sizzling touch for BFC.

Chhetri, despite his body having undergone the battering of two decades of top flight football, is the second highest goal scorer this ongoing ISL season with 12 strikes in 24 games. The next best Indian is Brison Deuben Fernandes with 7 goals from 22 games but the 23-year-old, hailed as a future prospect, is a midfielder at FC Goa. The top-20 list following the conclusion of the league phase — the play-offs are scheduled later this month following the FIFA window — is dominated by foreigners. 

So this begs the question, why are Indian strikers fluffing the lines constantly? Despite the ISL — the country’s top-tier league — boasting 13 teams, why is it unable to churn out quality Indian strikers? The answers are multiple. Firstly, the Indian forwards are unable to step up from the second-tier I-League and with a lot riding on results, coaches opt for foreign imports who more often than not deliver. According to Asian Football Confederation regulations, ISL teams are allowed to field a maximum of four foreign players in the playing XI and with goals being the primary currency in football, coaches bank on quality imports that guarantee returns.

In fact, foreigners take up the creative duties in the midfield too which means Indian strikers graduating to the ISL are forced to play on the wings and they end up struggling in that position. They fail to adapt, unlike Chhetri who started off as a winger but has gone on to become a top-class striker (he can still shine in both roles), earning plaudits from FIFA which made a documentary on his rise and fame. So inevitably youngsters end up becoming neither good wingers nor strikers, creating a vacuum that is suffocating Indian football. 

Pradhyum Reddy, Dempo CEO and AFC Pro Coaching Licence holder, felt one way to address this issue is capping the number of foreign player signings, especially in the I-League which is the main feeder system. “The best thing to do would be to reduce the number of foreigners (signings) that would force you almost to have a backup in that. So, for example, if you have four foreigners, like how it was in the I-League back when Sunil started at BFC, you might sign two foreign centre-backs, an attacking midfielder and a forward, like we had with Sean Rooney,” Reddy told DHoS.

“So, if Sean Rooney was to get injured or the foreign striker to get injured, you make sure you have good backup in an Indian striker. We had Robin (Singh). We had Sunil, obviously. And later on, Udanta (Singh), Daniel Lalhlimpuia. So, clubs would do that. They would recruit Indian strikers in that backup position. Or there would be teams which might play with one Indian striker and one foreign striker together.

“So, reducing foreigners would definitely help them. Now, you also need to be progressive, right? So, if the ISL is six, the I-League should probably be only four instead of six. Because only four can play on the field anyway. So, why do you need to sign six? You’re just wasting money. And that has an impact. So, reduce it in the I-League. Zero from second division, maybe two or three in the I-League and then maybe six if you want in the ISL. 

“Or, go four in the ISL, two in the I-League. That would be, if AIFF wants to develop Indian football, that should be the way they’re going. Then automatically, there’s a demand for Indian players, there’s a demand for Indian forwards and, you know, simple supply and demand.”

Former India and BFC defender Rino Anto too felt AIFF, which has been often castigated for lacking a strong vision to take the game forward, needs to take more responsibility else the struggles could get worse. “Clubs have to trust (Indian) strikers also. From grassroot level, more strikers have to come. Obviously, it will take time. That’s why we have to trust the process and AIFF has to do something. If Manolo is trusting Chhetri, it means he is performing. Also Manolo is not getting any strikers. With a lot riding on the results of the upcoming games, Manolo has gone for the safest option.”

Reddy, who was born in Scotland, felt unless India and clubs invest on specialist coaches, especially at youth level level, it will continue to fail to move forward. “I think it’s a problem where we haven’t moved with the times as a nation, as a footballing nation. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up. So, I think at our youth football, we’re not addressing this. And you can’t blame youth coaches, because I don’t think the coaches are taught properly. So, it comes down to the coach education. We’re not teaching coaches how to train position-specific.”

“11 years ago, I went to visit Tottenham. I met Les Ferdinand over there, at Tottenham, and Tim Sherwood. Les Ferdinand was a striker’s coach. So, he used to work specifically with the under-21s, as a senior team, as, you know, take the strikers aside on certain days and certain times, and do extra stuff with the strikers. I mean, those days in India, we didn’t even have goalkeeping coaches.

“And now, 11 years later, I can safely say none of the I-League clubs, I don’t think any of the ISL clubs have a specialist coach apart from a strength and conditioning coach and a goalkeeping coach. Nobody will have a striker’s coach. We have specialists for specialist positions and, you know, they do work on that. You don’t have one coach at a cricket academy who’s going to teach you how to bowl and bat and field, right? They have specialists. So, you have to move with the times, I mean, and have specialists for specialist roles. So, I think in terms of coaching and coach education, we’ve fallen way, way behind and we don’t develop that role.”

AIFF needn’t take cue from BCCI, which has got extremely deep pockets, on how to resurrect the game. They can probably take a page out of Hockey India’s book. The sport had hit the nadir two decades ago, India failing to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finishing last at London four years later. Now, they’ve won two consecutive bronze medals — 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris. Reason, extensive use of coaches for specific roles, be it goalkeeping, goal-scoring, defending or drag-flicking. High time the AIFF did some course correction.