HT Kick Off: An element of distrust

Clubs and national federations sparring over players' injuries continues to be vexing problem, says Dhiman in this issue

“Do you know what he has done to Bhaichung,” Subhas Bhowmick barked. Jolted by his call early in the morning after a night shift at work, I mumbled (maybe even grumbled) that I had no idea. Turned out that Bhutia had done his knee in while playing for India in the 2004 LG Cup.

Without a number of regular players, India won bronze in the CAFA Nations Cup beating Oman on penalties.(AIFF)

Row over Bhutia

Reports had it that Bhutia had aggravated the injury sustained in training ahead of the first match. Stephen Constantine — the “he” in Bhowmick’s rhetorical question — had rested Bhutia in the opening match but played him against a Vietnam XI. He shouldn’t have, East Bengal head coach Bhowmick bristled. It is another matter that the injury caused Bhutia to miss a home World Cup qualifier against Japan, ironically a match for which Constantine had wanted to prepare for by playing the LG Cup.

The spat may have been linked to East Bengal’s stand-off with Constantine before the tournament in Vietnam. East Bengal had refused to release players for the camp till a British physical trainer at the club finished his sessions. East Bengal’s India players were released only for medicals with the national team and joined the camp late.

Last month, All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Mohun Bagan Super Giant publicly exchanged markedly different interpretations of Subhasish Bose’s groin injury. Mohun Bagan said Bose was injured against Bangladesh and AIFF countered that it was in the Indian Super League nearly one month later. Mohun Bagan justified not releasing players for the CAFA Nations Cup citing AIFF’s poor handling of Bose’s injury. “He’s under rehab… we are paying his salary, and yet the federation hasn’t called even once to inquire about him,” a source at the club was quoted as saying in a PTI report. “The Medical team was keeping in touch with Subhasish regarding his progress while he was rehabilitating with the club medical team,” AIFF said in a statement.

Then, Sandesh Jhingan played with a fractured cheekbone against Iran and an “alarmed” FC Goa told AIFF that the centre-back should not have been allowed to continue. The fire was doused only after Jhingan, who will be out for four weeks, said it was his decision to continue. Omar Marmoush has done that too and will miss Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Be it East Bengal then, Mohun Bagan, FC Goa or PSG now, there remains an element of distrust between clubs and national teams. This, even after national team players are insured and FIFA ensures clubs are compensated for releasing players for major events.

A significant highlight

Mohun Bagan refusing to do that for the senior or the under-23 national teams increased the difficulty quotient in the CAFA Nations Cup and the Asian under-23 qualifiers. Credit to Khalild Jamil and Naushad Moosa for coping with it. Without 10 regulars, Jamil took India to a podium finish in Tajikistan. The result may make it difficult for the seven from Mohun Bagan he had in his longlist to earn his trust.

Beginner’s pluck is not new but rare to football in India. The Asian Games gold in 1951 had come in the first edition; in 2003 Bhowmick’s East Bengal stunned BEC Tero Sasana, finalists in the Asian Champions League final by then, to win the ASEAN Cup and India won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup when it first became a road to the Asian Cup.

Two of these, in 1951 and 2008, were at home. East Bengal won in Jakarta but complementing Bhutia’s red-hot form, Alvito d’Cunha’s ball-carrying skills, Sasthi Duley’s dogged man-marking and Debjit Ghosh’s doughty displays were solid shifts from Brazilian Douglas d’Silva and Polish striker Mike Okoro. Which makes India’s bronze in Tajikistan a significant highlight in a sport blighted by lows on and off the pitch. Check out here what it meant to some aspiring footballers.

Moosa’s men narrowly missed out on a first-ever qualification to the under-23 finals and who knows how they would have fared had Mohun Bagan’s Dippendu Biswas, Suhail Bhatt, Priyansh Dubey and Abhishek Singh been part of the roster. Not for the first time have India shown the gap with Asian elites is not huge. Reason enough to get the U23 team more matches and more preparatory camps.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant's Liston Colaco (in green) tries to break through during a closed-door friendly against FC Goa. (@mbsg on X)

That can be a discussion for another day. The focus will now shift to Asian Champions League 2 where Mohun Bagan and FC Goa start their group league campaigns. Mohun Bagan will host Ahal FC of Turkmenistan on September 16 one day before Goa start against Iraq’s Al Zawraa at home. The group league matches will run till late December with Goa’s big-ticket home match against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr slotted on October 22. “This is a chance to bring global attention to Indian football and its clubs,” FC Goa CEO Ravi Puskur told the club’s website.

Play of the week

Play of the week (Prijit Sashidharan)