HT Kick Off: China and India stay sleeping giants

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Friday, 26 Jan 2024

By Dhiman Sarkar

China and India stay sleeping giants

India and China ended the 2024 Asian Cup without a win or a goal (Source: Reuters)

Together they have more than a third of the planet’s population. Based on gross domestic product, they are among the top five economies of the world. They are also in the elite club of nations that have successfully made a soft landing on the moon.

India and China have another thing in common: woeful men’s national football teams. Both exited the 2024 Asian Cup without a win or a goal. Against teams ranked significantly lower, China managed two dreary draws before losing to Qatar who had rested a number of first team players. The slim chance of China staying on as a best third-ranked team went when Syria beat India who finished with three losses against opponents ranked higher and a goal difference of -6.

Birth pangs

Ten years separate India and China’s attempt at a reset through a new league. The Chinese Super League (CSL) is 20 years old, Indian Super League (ISL) is 10. China’s only World Cup finals appearance came in 2002 and their best performance in the Asian Cup in 1984 and 2004 so it can’t be attributed to CSL. India brief tryst with fame evaporated after 1970. Since ISL, the best performance outside winning a SAFF Championship away from home has been a 0-0 draw at Qatar against the Asian champions.

Major League Soccer and North American Soccer League before that have shown how arduous the process of birthing and sustaining a league are. The scale and scope of the two competitions are different but CSL and ISL still being wobbly on their feet is expected. Both have had teams pulling the plug – in India the trend predates ISL with Mahindra United’s announcement that they would disband the team when they could have won I-League being the most stunning. AFP quoted a report in China’s ‘Global Times’ as saying that 39 teams have folded up since 2020.

If the collapse of China’s once-booming real estate business is one reason for that, reckless spending is another. CSL tried to add Gareth Bale to the long line of players and coaches who had joined after Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka’s move east. (Anelka played in ISL as well). David Beckham was CSL’s global ambassador. Like Juergen Klopp on Saudi Arabia, Arsene Wenger said it could be difficult for clubs in Europe to compete with China.

Wenger’s comment hasn’t aged well. For all the riches in CSL, only Guangzhou Evergrande, now relegated and renamed Guangzhou FC, have won the Asian Champions League. The only other team to emerge best in Asia was Liaoning FC in 1989-90. Clearly, the model hadn’t worked. ‘Global Times’ said clubs were in “blind pursuit of short-term victories” instead of focusing on home-grown talent. Football in China has also been mired in corruption charges with Li Tie, a rare success story as a player, saying he had paid a bribe to get the national team coach’s job.

ISL hasn’t been caught in off-side position with corruption but Hyderabad FC’s latest financial problem is a cause for worry. Equally worrying is ISL clubs’ poor performance in Asia’s second tier competition, the AFC Cup. A short season and clubs’ lack of focus on scouting and youth development mirroring All India Football Federation’s lackadaisical approach to age-specific leagues have contributed to the players’ pool being small. Which in turn has led to inflation in players’ salaries.

Solutions short and long term

For all this, the standard of ISL remains well below what was needed to compete at Asian Cup. India head coach Igor Stimac sticking to his brief of changing from long-ball to a more sophisticated possession game made the task more difficult. India may have learnt to do that against teams outside the top 100 but lack the technical quality to play that way against those ranked above them. Tom Bayer, the youth development expert, has a long-term solution focusing on the Asian under-16 championships. Naturalised players or a long preparatory camp could have been short-term fixes. Neither was possible.

By the time this hits your inboxes, Aleksandar Jankovic, who supervised the Asian Cup campaign, may be China’s former coach. “There are two types of coaches in general – those who have been fired and those who will be fired,” he has said. Although armed with a new deal till 2026, Stimac may not last much longer than the Serbian.

Sacking will be like window dressing, as this article from The Asian Game says, but coaches are the lowest hanging fruit in this business. Look no farther than Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tanzania and Gambia in the Africa Cup of Nations.

China hasn’t been able to crack football despite acing almost every other Olympic sport. In President Xi Jingping, China has a fan who has spoken of wanting his country to win the World Cup. And yet they can’t get out of the loop of non-performance. Imagine then, how difficult a leap into the top 10 in Asia it would be or India even though it has been 16 years since Sepp Blatter called it a sleeping giant.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

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IN OTHER NEWS

Real on top: Real Madrid have climbed to the top of the 'Money League' surpassing Manchester City to become the highest revenue generating club in 2022-23. AFP reports that for the first time since 2017-18, Real, who finished 10 points below champions Barcelona in La Liga in 22-23, are in pole position in Deloitte's financial rankings with a reported record revenue of €831 million ($905 million). It is an increase of €118 million euros over the previous year. Real's growth is largely attributable to strong retail performance, higher stadium attendance and recovery of sponsorship income following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. City were second after earning their highest ever revenue for a season, €826 million. With revenues of €802 million euros, French champions Paris Saint-Germain have broken into the top three for the first time. Barcelona were fourth, their revenue of €800 million lifting them from seventh place.

Brothers Williams strike: Inaki Williams raced back from Africa to face Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and sent Athletic Bilbao into the semi-finals by scoring a crucial goal in their 4-2 extra-time triumph on Wednesday, says AFP. Athletic struck inside the first minute through Gorka Guruzeta, but Barcelona turned the game around with goals from Robert Lewandowski and 16-year-old starlet Lamine Yamal. Oihan Sancet netted early in the second half to take the game to extra-time and then teed up Inaki Williams to put the Basques ahead. His brother Nico Williams added the finishing touch late on to complete a superb night for the hosts.

Inaki and Nico Williams both scored against Barcelona (Source: ESPN)

IWL recommendations: The league committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has recommended a promotion and relegation based system for the Indian Women's League (IWL), which was introduced in 2016. “… the committee recommended introducing the system of promotion-relegation of teams involving IWL and IWL 2, effective from the 2024-25 season,” said AIFF in a release.

New Bengaluru FC striker: Bengaluru FC have announced the signing of 28-year-old Danish striker Oliver Drost till the end of the season. Drost, who last played for Danish First Division club FC Helsingør, replaces English striker Curtis Main, who mutually parted ways with the Blues earlier this month.

Ban stays on Agnelli: An Italian sport court rejected former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli's request to overturn a ban linked to a case over alleged irregularities in the Serie A club's payments to players, reports Reuters. In July, the Italian federation (FIGC) imposed a 16-month ban from the game, which was reduced to 10 months in September.

Mewis retires: Sam Mewis, part of the USA’s Women's World Cup winning team in 2019, has retired, says Reuters. The 31-year-old midfielder started five of the seven matches in that competition in France, providing the assist on Rose Lavelle's game-clinching goal against the Netherlands in the final. “Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires,” Mewis has said.

Sam Mewis retires (Source: US Women’s Team Website)

Back at boyhood clubs: Ivan Perisic has been loaned Tottenham Hotspur to his old club Hadjuk Split till the end of the season. Also back at his boyhood club was former Manchester United Mexican striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who has joined Chivas Guadalajara, the Liga MX side, as per a Reuters report.

Chile name coach: Former Argentina international Ricardo Gareca , who scored in the 1-0 win against India in the 1984 Nehru Cup match against India, has been named Chile coach, according to Reuters. Gareca managed Peru from 2015 to 2022 taking them to the 2018 World Cup. He replaces Eduardo Berizzo who quit after Chile were held 0-0 by Paraguay in the South American World Cup qualifiers in November. Chile are eighth in the standings ahead of only Bolivia and Peru.

New deal for Militao: Brazil defender Eder Militao has signed a contract extension to 2028 with Real Madrid, reports AFP. Militao, 26, arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu from Porto in 2019 but has played just one game this season due to a knee injury. He won the Champions League once and La Liga twice with Real.

Henderson returns to Europe: England midfielder Jordan Henderson has joined Ajax after six unsettling months in Saudi Arabian club Al Ettifaq. Saad Allazeez, vice-chairman and interim CEO of the Saudi league, said some people “don't always adjust or settle. Everyone tried and no one is to blame." An AFP report said Henderson's weekly wages in Saudi Arabia could have been up to £700,000 ($887,000) per week. Read why this could damage the Saudi project here .

Salah back at Liverpool: Mohamed Salah has returned to Liverpool leaving Egypt’s squad at the Africa Cup of Nations to continue treatment on a hamstring injury, says AFP. It could take three to four weeks but Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has said Salah would return for the final on February 11 if needed.

ISL resumes on January 31: The ISL, paused for Asian Cup, will resume on January 31, the league has announced. Jamshedpur FC will host NorthEast United FC on the first day. The first Kolkata derby will be on February 3. Matches will kick-off at 7.30 PM IST while the first match on double header days will now be played starting 5:00 PM IST. Check full schedule here.

Milan goalie’s stand against racism

Mike Maignan walks off (Source: Sky Sports)

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan walked off after being abused by Udinese fans during a Serie A game which led to it being suspended briefly. “It's not the player who was attacked. It's the man, it's the father…," Maignan wrote in French on X. Enough is enough, said Kylian Mbappe in support of his France teammate on X. Udinese have banned five people for life following the incident.

HT Kick Off: China and India stay sleeping giants

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