The Nehru Cup is here! Just a day away now. The fantastic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi should prove to be quite a venue to host this competition. After the 1 lac-seater Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, this has to be India’s best football stadium. Hosting the Bayern Munich full squad is no mean achievement, mind you.
India are expected to have an uphill task this time around. For starters, there will be the pressure of defending their title from 2009. India have won the Nehru Cup both times since its reinstatement in 2007. It’s one of the very few tournaments, along with the SAFF Cup, that the national team have managed some sort of success in. And that wasn’t necessarily a very joyous statement. Hence, the pressure to perform will be high. Secondly, their star striker Sunil Chettri has just returned from Portugal. He was, of course, playing for Sporting Lisbon B and will go back there once the tournament is over. The cause of concern here is that he missed the complete national camp. He’s the captain and talisman of this team, remember. Missing a national camp doesn’t augur well for the team or him, for that matter.
The Indian team’s coach Wim Koevermans knows how to win, by the way. He was part of the Euro winning Dutch squad from 1988. Having plied his trade with the likes of Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Ronald Koeman by his side, there has to be something special that he’ll bring to the table. The AIFF should be duly lauded for bagging him for this post. Another brilliant decision was to keep the previous national coach Savio Medeira as an assistant manager. He coached the team for almost a year, and hence would be able to help Koevermans ease into his role. Besides, India’s style of play under Madeira was highly praised by experts, critics and fans alike. A student of ‘totaalvoetbal’ under Johann Cryuff, the former Dutch centre-half would love the fact that the team has already been practicing a fluid game for a few months.
Football Paradise has a keen look at the 20-member squad Koevermans has selected for the Nehru Cup.