India’s football coach Bob Houghton admitted on Tuesday his side faced an uphill task in their Asian Cup qualifier against Japan.
BANGALORE: India’s football coach Bob Houghton admitted on Tuesday his side faced an uphill task in their Asian Cup qualifier against Japan.
“We are going through a tough period. We have played four games and do not have a point yet,” Houghton said on the eve of the tie. “When we keep losing, it is very difficult to build on the positives.”
India lost 6-0 to Japan in February and have also had dismal reverses to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. “There are two more games left. We’ve got to battle though. We’ve got to put in a very good performance. The boys are positive and they do believe they can win,” the 58-year-old coach said.
India, ranked 26th in Asia and 128th in FIFA’s official rankings - have never qualified for the World Cup finals.
Houghton said his team would opt for a 4-4-2 formation to counter Japan’s 5-3-2 set-up and unveiled his team with skipper Baichung Bhutia and Manjit Singh as forwards.
“Japan are the most skilful of the Asian sides. Their passes and moves are outstanding,” said Houghton, who took over the Indian side in June this year. “We have an advantage with our combination as 19 teams in the previous World Cup opted for the same style while only nine played the way Japan plays. The players will ask themselves if the coach is making them a better player. Will his strategies win them more matches? If we keep losing, the second part is worrying.”
Japan, who have already qualified for next year’s Asian Cup finals, are experimenting with a new team without their Europe-based players. “We wish to look at young players now as our aim is the 2010 World Cup in South Africa,” said Ivica Osim, Japan’s national coach.
“The Europe-based players play one game every three days. If we call them, they will have to come all the way to Japan and then get back. It is not an ideal situation. It is not good for them or good for us,” he said. Japan have only five players who were part of the squad that played the World Cup in Germany.
India
Goalkeeper: Sandip Nandy; Defenders: Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, Sanjeev Maria, Manju Shivananju; Midfielders: Steven Dias, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Pappachan Pradeep, Renedy Singh; Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Manjit Singh
Japan
Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Norihiro Yamagishi, Shusaku Nishikawa Defenders: Alessandro Santos, Yuichi Komano, Hiroki Mizumoto, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Naoaki Aoyama; Midfielders: Naotake Hanyu, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Kengo Nakamura, Keita Suzuki, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Satoru Yamagishi, Makoto Hasebe, Yasuyuki Konno; Forwards: Ryuji Bando, Seiichiro Maki, Kazuki Ganaha, Hisato Sato
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