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It has taken India 27 years to qualify for its third Asian Cup and few are expecting any fireworks from a massive country that has never realised its footballing potential.
India are in Qatar courtesy of winning the eight-nation AFC Challenge Cup as hosts in 2008 — a tournament of lower-tier Asian teams.
It will be their first outing at the Asian Cup since 1984 where they failed to make any impact, in contrast to their maiden appearance in 1964 when they finished runners-up.
A repeat of that performance is highly unlikely with Bobby Houghton’s squad more concerned with preventing any embarrassing scorelines, with the might of Australia, South Korea and Bahrain awaiting them in a tough Group C.
If recent results are any indication, they could be seriously out of their depth having lost 2-0 to Iraq, 9-1 to Kuwait and 5-0 to the UAE in November.
That match againt UAE on November 18 was the last one they have played and they go into the tournament clearly under-prepared.
They have also been hit by controversy with manager Pradeep Chowdhury walking out on the team in December after an apparent spat with Houghton, with players accusing him of deserting them.
English journeyman Houghton, who used to play for Fulham and has previously coached China and Uzbekistan, admitted they face an uphill task.
“I don’t know what is realistic. We are 142 in the world and Australia and South Korea have just played the World Cup. That is a very tough group,” he recently told goal.com.
Houghton, who has been in charge of India since 2006, has also been struggling with a spate of injuries to key players, including captain and striker Baichung Bhutia, although he has been named in their squad.
The 63-year-old has been around long enough to know that a thrashing in Qatar will spell the end of the road for him, despite having a contract that runs until 2013.
“You have to be realistic. If India goes out of the Asian Cup with no points there’s going to be an enormous outcry to sack the coach. Sometimes decisions are taken out of your hands.”
The 1950s and 60s was India’s golden era, with the national team winning the Asian Games gold medals in 1951 and 1962 while becoming the first Asian nation to make it to the Olympics semi-finals at Melbourne in 1956.
But since those glory days, football has gone backwards, with infrastructure for its development poor compared to other countries in the region.
Currently ranked a lowly 142nd in the world, recent successes have been limited to the South Asian region with victories in the Nehru Cup in 2007 and 2009 before their AFC Challenge Cup heroics handed them a ticket to Doha.
Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamad bin Hammam recently blasted India’s almost stagnant development in the sport, saying it was important that they start showing their potential.
“There is no reason why India should lag behind the rest of Asia,” he said.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea attempt to land their first Asian Cup in 51 years this month but their hopes have been hit hard by the withdrawal of key striker Park Chu-Young.
The 2002 World Cup semi-finalists are one of the pre-tournament favourites but start their Group C matches against Australia, Bahrain and India without a man who has scored more goals than anyone else in the squad.
Park, who played up front as the sole striker during last year’s World Cup, hurt his knee while celebrating an injury-time winner for his French club Monaco against FC Sochaux on December 23.
Doctors have ruled him out for up to four weeks with cartilage damage, with coach Cho Kwang-Rae drafting in Hong Jung-Ho, a defender, as a replacement.
It is a major blow but Cho is confident his team can still perform.
“I have faith in our players’ capabilities,” he told reporters.
“We can’t keep worrying about Park Chu-Young’s injury. Football is not an individual sport, and if each of the 23 players can come together, we can overcome this problem.”
Without him, South Korea’s front line features Ji Dong-Won, Kim Shin-Wook, and Yoo Byung-Soo.
But Cho, who took over from Huh Jung-Moo after the South Africa World Cup, also has Celtic duo Cha Du Ri and Ki Sung-Yeung at his disposal.
They both scored in their final match before jetting out to Qatar when the Scottish giants beat St Johnstone 2-0.
He also has hugely influential captain, Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung, on board after Alex Ferguson agreed to release the midfielder for international duty.
Park missed the last tournament four years ago with injury and has suggested the 2011 showpiece could be his international swansong.
“Playing for the national team is an honour, but I am also very happy to play for United, so missing several games is disappointing,” said the in-form Park, who has scored six goals this season.
Park, who has had to balance his commitments with European club sides and at international level for eight years, also attempted to play down Park Chu-Young’s absence.
“It’s unfortunate we lost our key striker, but it be also an opportunity for other players and for the team,” he said.
“It will give us a clear reason to work harder.”
The team is keen to build on its fine World Cup performance when they reached the last 16, and Cho has made clear he considers the Asian Cup a major prize that eluded them for too long.
Despite reaching seven consecutive World Cups, South Korea’s Asian Cup accomplishments are relatively modest.
They won the first two editions in Hong Kong in 1956 and on home soil four years later and have finished runner-up three times, in 1972, 1980 and 1988.
But another title has eluded them with third place finish at the last edition in 2007, meaning they qualified automatically for Qatar.
BAHRAIN
Tiny Bahrain failed to get into the knockout rounds at the last Asian Cup in 2007 and with Australia and South Korea awaiting them in Doha a similar fate could be on the cards.
Avoiding last place in Group C must be their priority as they come into the tournament riding a poor run of form.
Their outcome is in the hands of former international Salman Sharida, who recently took over when Austrian Josef Hickersberger quit to return to his previous club Al Wahda of United Arab Emirates.
But Sharida, who lacks international experience, has enjoyed little success so far, and with failure at the tournament often seeing heads roll, he has his work cut out.
Under Sharida, Bahrain were held goalless by Uganda in November, followed by a 2-0 loss at the hands of fellow Asian Cup finalists Syria.
They were then held 1-1 in the Gulf Cup opener by Oman before losing 3-2 to Iraq, the defending Asian Cup champions.
The Gulf Cup turned into a disaster with the team only managing a point from their group — emphasizing the difficulty of their task in Qatar.
A 1-1 draw in a warm-up game with Uzbekistan last week failed to lift the gloom before they bounced back to beat Jordan 2-1 in another friendly for a much-needed morale boost.
While Bahrain, who are in their third consecutive Asian Cup, haven’t made too many footballing headlines recently, they were plastered over the papers in September when they found themselves at the centre of an elaborate scam.
That beat Togo 3-0 in Manama in a warm-up to the West Asian Football Federation Championship only to find that the visitors were a fraud, masquerading as the national squad.
Amusing as it was, it came at a cost with several people, including an ex-Togo sports minister, being detained.
There is no chance of that happening in Doha with Australia and South Korea boosting top-rated teams full of European-based stars.
Bahrain open their campaign against the Koreans at Al Gharafa Stadium on January 10 before facing a must-win match against group minnows India, who are under the tutlege of English journeyman Bobby Houghton.
India have qualified for the first time in 24 years and if Bahrain can’t get three points in this match then their bid for the knockout round would appear doomed.
They complete their group games against the Socceroos on January 18, with only the top two progressing.
With goals a priority, Bahrain will be relying heavily on dangerous striker Ismaeel Abdullateef, while fellow forward Jaycee John features after his Turkish club Eskisehirspor released him — they refused to do so for the Gulf Cup.
Sharida will also pin hopes on his overseas players who are mostly based in Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
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