World Soccer in Comparison to India

You peep into any modern home and you will find teenage people watching soccer , wearing jerseys of their favourite stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lio Messi . Worshipping them as God , trying to play like them when they next kick the football . All these youngsters know that they have the ability to play the game and believe me some really have it , they would not like to play for the country. Ask any teenager or for that matter any football fan in India where he would want to play his soccer if he was given a chance, the answer would be prominent. He would surely say that he would love to go and play for clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool ,Arsenal and many more, but ask them about the players of their state teams and they will start laughing at you , asking you whether there actually is a domestic team of the state or for that matter asking you whether you yourself know the players there . You look like a country in Nigeria that has such talent and potential . We see loads of african players apply their trades in the big leagues in the world .They dont have that infrastructure, they dont have the amenities but still they practice and give it their best shot . In such countries these players become God for the younger generation, you look at Michael Essien , the Ghanian captian,who plays for a big club like Chelsea. He is one of the best players of the club. With a country such as Ghana whose size is not even comparable to the size of our country produces stars such as him, Why can't India do the same ?. Well this question has been asked so many times on television that now it has become a big issue , but yes , the question makes sense . In such a country like ours with so many young Indians watching the game of soccer why can't we produce a Leo Messi or a Ronaldo for the matter . I know that the game of cricket is like a religion to India but for such a huge country like ours is creating one wonderkid such a hard option .

You look at a nation like Australia, they were nowhere in the soccer world for the past decade , when the qualified for the soccer world cup in 2002 , the results were bad and then the federation decided that they would add even more funds to get quality players.. And yes they have suceeded, they reached the quarter finals of the 2006 world cup where the lost to Italy on penalties, is' nt that enough for motivation? . Well moreover they noticed that not any of the Australian clubs featured in the higher rounds of the AFC cup , which is equivalent to the UEFA champions league in Europe,and again they decided that the money should be put in in nurturing talent . and look the results have flown in with the local club such as Adelaide United reaching the finals, it is different story that they lost in the finals 3-0 to Gamba Osaka, but the kind of determination they showed in reaching the finals was just enthralling .
Now we have Australians in the top leagues in the world . Players such as Tim Cahill playing for Everton , Brett Emerton playing for Blackburn,Lucas Neill for West Ham and also players such as Mark Bresciano playing for a team such as Palermo . Well these players have made their mark for their club as well as country. This shows that if the right kind of approach and the right kind of attitude is shown there is nothing that the AIFF cannot achieve . Being a soccer fan myself suggesting measures for development of the game in India is an easy job , but for the implementation of a sport where the Indian supporters are themselves are supporting clubs of the other nations is a tuf job . Everyone in this country wants to become a cricketer,a doctor, an engineer , a politician for that matter , but soccer is untouched territory of the youth . There is not enough money say a lot of people ! but my view is that what would we do of money if the people are only not interested in playing this game for their country. And as far as money is concerned many footballers in India earn quite a sum of money , take for that matter Sunil Chettri , he earns around 35 lakhs a year , now that is quite a big sum of money and now he is attracting attention of clubs such as Leeds united who once had players such Rio Ferdinand, Nicky Barmby, Alan Smith, Mark Viduka !! Though they play in the lower leagues i think he is going to set a benchmark for the people of India to come and play the game of soccer .

I also specially want to mention the crowds of the country! Well no one is interested in watching a game of soccer in India apart from a few states of Kolkata and Goa . Well you see games on television and you really do not come to know whether it is a practice match going on ? . Such is the support ! Well if the supporters do come out in large number the crowds do influence a lot of results as we have seen in stadiums such as Anfield and Old Trafford .!!
People only look at profit while investing money and not at the creativity and the passion one can have in the game of soccer ! while people are investing millions and millions to the game of cricket and a sport such as formula one , i think Indian football still has a long long way to go !!!!
such a long way that i may not be in the world when we see the next leo messi or the next Ronaldo from this holy land of ours ! But the dream always remains of going to a packed stadium in India and watching a great game of soccer and believing that India will surely be the next big thing is soccer in the coming generations .

Ajay Bhat