Kolkata: India’s former midfielder Prasanta Banerjee, who has now been selected in the All India Football Federation (AIFF)’s technical committee, said that the national team slated to jump 31 spots to 101 in FIFA rankings, now requires to play Middle-East nations in order to continue their improvement.
India, after their two consecutive victories, one in a in a FIFA friendly against Cambodia and then in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against the Myanmar, are all set to take a big leap from 132nd in the rankings to 101st, their best ever FIFA rankings in the last 20 years and 11 months. The FIFA will publish the ranking on April 6.
“Now that we will be 101 in rankings, we need to play Middle East countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE,” Banerjee told reporters on Monday.
“The more we play with them, we will understand the gulf in class. We will get a better idea of where we are. Playing Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan is fine but we need to play against these countries to assess our standard of football and not necessarily always think about rankings,” the 59-year old known for his vision on the pitch during his heydays, said.
Prasanta also added that the first technical committee might happen in May. Few days back Shyam Thapa replaced Bhaichung as the chairman of the technical committee.
Coach of Indian National Football Team Stephen Constantine is in Kolkata along with technical director Savio Medeira for a scouting workshop with the IFA and Sports Department of West Bengal.
Banerjee, who was also present in the workshop at the Netaji Indore Stadium, said the discussions were all about the betterment of the scouting network in the country.
Answering to a question on India’s chances of playing the 2026 World Cup which will be a 48-team tournament which will allow AFC to have a possible eight slots from the current four, Prasanta said the target is that.
“There is still time. Now it’s 2017 and if we target 2026 World Cup, scouting needs to start from now.
“In India we now have just two scouts. Manchester (United) has 35 scouts. If a club can have so many scouters, why can’t a nation? This is very unfortunate. These were discussed in the meeting today. Time is at a premium, we need to start from now to aim for 2026 World Cup.”
Banerjee also that U-17 World Cup preparations of the Indian Team will be affected a bit as coach Nicolai Adam was removed couple of months ago, with Portugal’s Luis Norton de Matos replacing him.
“Team preparation will be affected a bit for sure. The U-17 boys were training under a new coach all this while. Now the new coach will have to settle down and he doesn’t have much time. He has to see whether he tours the entire length and breadth of the country to scout more players or focuses on team combination.”
Banerjee though think the hosts will do well in the upcoming U-17 World Cup.
“India’s wont do too poorly in the World Cup. U-17 World Cup will be a very high level of football, but the team will fight for sure.”