NEWS > October 2007

October 30, 2007 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers - Round 1

Jawaharlal Nehru - Fatorda Stadium, Margao (Goa, India):

India 2-2 Lebanon

Goals
1-0 Sunil Chetri (29'), 1-1,1-2 Mohamad Ghaddar (76',88'), 2-2 Steven Dias (90'+2')

Linie-Ups

India: 2-Subrata Pal, 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 6-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 16-Samir Naik (75' 1-Sandip Nandy), 10-Steven Dias, 5-Climax Lawrence (69' 18-Mehraj din Wadoo), 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, 4-Krishnan Nair Ajayan (58' 13-Clifford Miranda), 11-Sunil Chetri, 15-Baichung Bhutia [C]
Substitutes: 3-Tarif Ahmed, 8-Debabrata Roy, 9-Manjit Singh, 12-Syed Rahim Nabi

Lebanon: 1-Lary Mehanna; 2-Ali Al Saadi, 3-Ramez Dayoub, 8-Hussien Hamdan (54' 14-Amer Khan), 10-Abbas Ali Atwi, 6-Faissal Antar, 9-Khodor Salame, 15-Ali Yaakoub, 13-Mahmoud El Ali (80' 18-Paul Rustom), 16-Mohamad Korhani (46' 11-Mohamad Ghaddar), 17-Mohamad Halawi
Substitutes: 5-Mootaz Jounaidi, 4-Hussein Amine, 12-Hassan Moghnieh

Yellow Cards: Ramez Dayoub (65'), Lary Mehanna (68'), Mahmoud El Ali (70', all Lebanon)
Red Card: Subrata Pal (72', India)

Referee: Salem Mohmoud Mujghee (Jordan)
Assistent Referees: Fathi Arabati, Awni Hassouneh (both Jordan)
Fourth Official: Mohammed Yussof Mat Karim (Malaysia)
Match Commissioner: Rendeni Gamini (Sri Lanka)

Match Report
...

October 30, 2007 | AFC U16 Championship Qualifiers - Group C

Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Stadium, Dammam (Saudi Arabia):

INDIA U16 2-2 Iraq U16

Goals
0-1 Waleed Al Lami (29'), 0-2 Ahmed Kueam (50'), 1-2 Bikramjit Singh (80'), 2-2 Tonmoy Ghosh (87')

Linie-Ups

India: 21-Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; 3-Deepak Devrani, 4-Ajith Dhruva Bhoir, 17-Vishal Kumar, 18-Tonmoy Ghosh; 7-Ralte Lalrindika, 12-Milan Singh Ongbam, 14-Bijendra Rai, 29-Bikramjit Singh; 9-Mandeep, 10-Malaswamfela

Iraq: 1-Ahmed Al Turfa; 2-Omar Ali, 4-Mohammed Al Wuhaili, 5-Samer Mansoor [C], 7-Ali Azeez, 8-Ali Al Rubayawi, 17-Ahmed Al Nuaimi, 22-Karrar Al Baidhani; 10-Ahmed Kueam, 11-Mustafa Al Shammari, 29-Waleed Al Lami

Yellow Cards: Tonmoy Ghosh (25'), Ajith Dhruva Bhoir (45'), Mandeep (60', all India); Ahmed Kueam (50'), Ahmed Al Nuaimi (66'), Waleed Al Lami (67', all Iraq)

Referee: Jaafar Alawi Jawad Mahfoodh (Bahrain)
Assistent Referees: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan), Akber Husain Ali Husain (Bahrain)
Fourth Official: Abdulrahman Recho (Syria)
Match Commissioner: Manirul Islam (Bangladesh)
Referee Inspector: Viktor Kolpakov (Kyrgyzstan)

October 28, 2007 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers - Round 1
 The match has been abandoned due to unplayable ground conditions!
The match will be now played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa on Tuesday!

October 27, 2007
AFC Womens Asia Cup 2008 Qualifiers:
 Iran 4-1 INDIA
Goals: ...

October 27, 2007 | AFC U16 Championship Qualifiers - Group C

Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Stadium, Dammam (Saudi Arabia):

INDIA U16 6-0 Sri Lanka U16

Goals
1-0 Bijendra Rai (1'), 2-0,5-0 Malaswamfela (31',52'), 3-0 Mandeep (46'), 4-0,6-0 Ralte Lalrindika (37',74')

Linie-Ups

India: 21-Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; 3-Deepak Devrani, 4-Ajith Dhruva Bhoir, 17-Vishal Kumar, 18-Tonmoy Ghosh (78' 2-Ashish Chetri); 7-Ralte Lalrindika, 12-Milan Singh Ongbam [C], 14-Bijendra Rai (54' 24-Tirthankar Sarkar), 29-Bikramjit Singh; 9-Mandeep, 10-Malaswamfela (69' 20-Abhishek Das)

Sri Lanka: 1-Sujan Perera, 2-Dananjaya Charuka, 3-Janandana Madusanka, 4-Jensan Sriskantharajah, 5-Mohamed Rilwan Saleem [C], 6-Dhanushka Nuwan Welgamage, 7-Mohamed Farhad Shufhin (41' 30-Thushan Dilshankha Dayasiri), 8-Buddhika Sandaruwan Priyananda, 10-Zakeer Ahamed Mohamed Mohideen, 11-Gerard Koshitha Shiyamal Perera, 15-Charitha Bandara Rathnayake (65' 9-Roshan Sanjaya Guruge)

Yellow Card : Mohamed Rilwan Saleem (84', Sri Lanka)

Referee: Jaafar Alawi Jawad Mahfoodh (Bahrain)
Assistent Referees: Akber Husain Ali Husain, Khaled Rashed Salem Al Allan (both Bahrain)
Fourth Official: Ali Al Badwawi (UAE)
Match Commissioner: Chin-Po Chang (Chinese Taipei)
Referee Inspector: Hussain Ghadhanferi (Kuwait)

October 27, 2007 | Weather a concern for Chennai match
 The India vs Lebanon match scheduled for Sunday is facing tough problems caused by the North East monsoon, bringing in heavy rains and intervening the preparations at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai. Spells of rain in the last few days have already done damage to the turf, leaving it soft at several places.
CFA and TFA president CR Visswanathan at a press briefing: "More rains and we have a problem on hand! We have not been able to take up the markings yet with the stipulated plastic emulsion paint because of the wet conditions and as of now, the pre-match practice routine on the match-turf for the two teams looks impossible."
Meanwhile the Lebanese national team has arrived in Chennai and looks quite optimistic about their chances in the return leg.
The Indian team arrived in the city yesterday evening from their camp in Goa and are roaring to go!
Both teams have been provided practice facilities at the American International School ground.

October 25, 2007 | India U-16 leaves for Saudi Arabia
 The India U-16 national team has left for Dammam, Saudi Arabia to participate in the AFC U-16 Championship Group C qualifiers. The Indian youngsters will face Bhutan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka in the qualifiers.
India U-16 Squad
Goalkeepers: Harshad Deepak Meher (Maharashtra), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Chandigarh), Presley Mascarenhas (Goa)
Defenders: Vishal Kumar (Karnataka), Deepak Devrani (Delhi), Ajith Dhruva Bhoir (Maharashtra), Tonmoy Ghosh (West Bengal), Arashpreet Singh (Chandigarh), Vikas Gulia
Midfielders: Bijendra Rai (Sikkim), Milan Singh (Jharkhand), Bikramjit Singh (Chandigarh), Akshay Vimal Kumar Mall (Gujarat), Shilton Sydney D'Silva (Goa), Subhojit Majumdar (Jharkhand), Tirthankar Sarkar (West Bengal), Ashish Chetri
Forwards: Ralte Lalrindika (Mizoram), Malaswamfela (Mizoram), L Prem Kumar (West Bengal), Abhishek Das, Vivek Kumar, Mandeep
Chief Coach: Colin Joseph Toal
Coaches: Sanjoy Sen, Narayana Menon
Goalkeeping Coach: Tanumoy Basu
Manager: Ankur Dutta
Physio: Amit Kumar

October 24, 2007 | INDIA stay 145th in FIFA World Rankings
 In the latest FIFA World Rankings released by the world football governing body today, INDIA remain unchanged at 145th in the world, while in Asia INDIA continues to be ranked 24th amongst 46 ranked nations.

October 23, 2007 | Baichung stays positive and says India can do it!
 India's football captain, Baichung Bhutia, says the national team are still optimistic despite trailing Lebanon 4-1 after the first leg of their World Cup qualifier in Saida. Baichung is a weekly guest on PLAY, India's only fully-dedicated sports radio station which can be found on Channel 520 on the WorldSpace Satellite Radio network.
Baichung usually gives PLAY his analysis on the preceding weekend's English Premier League matches but clearly, this week, his thoughts were much closer to home. Speaking ahead of this crucial second leg match, Baichung sounded confident of the team's chances.
"The preparation has been good. If you look at the (previous) game and the scoreline, it gives you a completely different picture. But at the moment, we've been working hard."
The second leg takes place on Sunday October 28 in Chennai but Baichung feels the 3-0 scoreline, that would see India go through, is perfectly possible.
"It will be a very difficult game but we are confident that we can get 3 goals. It's not going to be easy but hopefully, if everything goes perfectly, we can get 3 goals - it's definitely possible."
"There is pressure for us to win by the 3-0 margin but we've got to play our natural game and see what happens."
The Asian Football Confederation, felt that facilities at the usual Indian football hotbeds were not up to scratch so the Nehru Stadium in Chennai has been chosen as the venue for this match. Baichung concedes it will not quite be the same as in Goa, Kolkata or even Delhi but he approves of the ground.
"We might not have the same atmosphere... but I think ground-wise, weather-wise, the conditions are good though I don't feel they will give us any extra advantage."
On tactics for this match, Baichung pointed out specific areas the team needed to improve on if they wanted to advance in the qualifiers.
"It will be more attacking football but at the same time, we don't want to concede a goal because it will be impossible to get back into the match. We'll bring in a few more attacking players but our strategy and formation will be the same. I think we've really got to work on dead-ball situations and aerial balls. That's where we conceded most of the goals in Lebanon."
Baichung was given a chance to send a message to Indian football fans before this match and he was upbeat.
"We are positive and I'm sure the fans would stay positive as well. It's a difficult match to win by a 3 goal margin but at the same time it's not impossible. I think a little bit of luck is required as well - an early goal is going to help us in a big way. Sometimes there are matches when everything goes perfectly and I hope the 28th is going to be one of those matches for us."
Baichung ended the interview on a positive note.
"I feel we will win this match but the margin, well, I hope it will be 3-0, 4-1 or 5-1 but I think we will have a good performance and we will win." (WorldSpace / Total Sports Asia)

October 20, 2007 | INDIA Women pips Iran
AFC Womens Asia Cup 2008 Qualifiers:
India 3-1 Iran
Goals: 0-1 Fereshteh Karimi (9'), 1-1 Oinam Bem Bem Devi (15'), 2-1 Nangom Bala Devi (29'), 3-1 Lal Varmoi Hmar (80')

Linie-Ups
India: Ronibala Chanu Lourembem, Madhu Kumari, Romi Devi Ashem, Thoi Devi Ash (52' Ansha), Nameirakpam Geeta Rani Chanu, Lal Varmoi Hmar (90'+ Vasanthy Somu), Gitanjali Kuntia, Oinam Bem Bem Devi, Nangom Bala Devi, Pinky Bompal Magar, Sasmita Malick
Iran: Zohreh Koudaei, Seyedeh Azar, Koueistan Khosravi, Sohella Lorestani, Fatemah Arzhangi, Fereshteh Karimi, Nasimeh Golami (48' Neda Abdollahzadeh), Masoomeh Jahanchi (46' Bayan Mahmoudi), Sohila Molmole, Zahra Ghanbari, Katayoun Khosrowyar

Referee: Huijun Niu (China)

October 18, 2007 | AIFF announces India squad
 The AIFF has released the Indian squad list for the AFC Womens Asia Cup 2008 qualifiers against Iran. The first-leg match will be played at the Tau Devilal Stadium, Gurgaon on Saturday, while the return-leg will take place in Teheran on October 27.
India Probables
Goalkeepers: Ronibala Chanu Lourembem (Manipur), Prashanthi Pradhan
Defenders: Madhu Kumari (Bihar), Romi Devi Ashem (Manipur), Lal Varmoi Hmar (Manipur), Nameirakpam Geeta Rani Chanu (Manipur), Thoi Devi Ash (Manipur), Alochana Senapati (West Bengal), Gulti Choudhury (West Bengal), Jayanti Barua, Ansha
Midfielders: Gitanjali Kuntia (Orissa), Oinam Bem Bem Devi (Manipur), Nangom Bala Devi (Manipur), Gayatri Mallick (West Bengal), Rinku Ghosh (West Bengal), Pinky Bompal Magar (Orissa), Amoolya Jayaram
Forwards: Sasmita Malick (West Bengal), Domiana Gomendes (Goa), Shilpy Deb (West Bengal), Jagdeep Kaur (Punjab), Vasanthy Somu
Chief Coach: Premkanta Singh
Assistent Coach: Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar
Goalkeeping Coach: Chitra Jayaram
Manager: Renukalakshmi
Doctor: Dharini Sivakumar
Physio: Lakshmi Thyagarajan

October 9, 2007 | SAFF Cup postponed
 As had been expected for week the SAFF Cup 2007 has been postponed into mid-2008. At the executive committee meeting of the South Asian Football Federation in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday, the SAFF body decided to conduct the next edition of the SAFF Championships in the last week of May and first week of June 2008 instead of the originally planned dates of December 7 to 17, 2007 due to the AIFF being unable to send an Indian national team due to the inaugural I-League taking place at the time.
On the issue of postponing the tournament on the request of India, FIFA Development Officer for the South Asian region Manilal Fernando said, "India is an important partner of SAFF and it was necessary for us to have them play in this tourney. This was the main reason Exco had to go for this postponement."
The tournament would be jointly co-hosted by the Maldives and Sri Lanka with US-Dollar 95,000 as prize money. The draw for the tournament would be held in Male on February 26, 2008.
At the meeting SAFF also decided to start a SAFF U16 Tournament for boys and also launch a SAFF Women's Tournament in 2008 in Sri Lanka to give the juniors and women of the region more exposure.

October 8, 2007 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers - Round 1

Saida International Stadium, Sidon (Lebanon):

Lebanon 4-1 India

Goals
0-1 Sunil Chetri (30'), 1-1 Roda Antar (35'), 2-1,4-1 Mohamad Ghaddar (61',75'), 3-1 Mahmoud El Ali (62')

Linie-Ups

Lebanon: 1-Lary Mehanna; 2-Ahmad El Choum (46' 14-Amer Khan), 3-Ramez Dayoub, 6-Faissal Antar [C], 7-Abbas Ali Atwi (83' ?-Tarek El Ali), 8-Roda Antar, 9-Khodor Salame, 13-Mahmoud El Ali (80' 10-Abbas Ahmad Atwi), 16-Mohamad Korhani, 17-Mohamad Halawi, 18-Paul Rustom (46' 11-Mohamad Ghaddar)
Substitutes: 4-Hussein Amine, 5-Mootaz Jounaidi, 12-Hassan Moghnieh, 15-Ali Yaacoub

India: 2-Subrata Pal, 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 6-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 3-Nanjangud Shivnanju Manju, 10-Steven Dias, 5-Climax Lawrence, 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (73' 18-Mehraj din Wadoo), 8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh (65' 4-Krishnan Nair Ajayan), 11-Sunil Chetri, 15-Baichung Bhutia [C]
Substitutes: 1-Subhashish Roy Choudhury, 9-Manjit Singh, 12-Syed Rahim Nabi, 13-Clifford Miranda, 16-Samir Naik

Referee: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait)
Assistent Referees: Yaser Marad, Fuad Al Rhbian (both Kuwait)

Match Report
coming soon...

October 7, 2007 | Lebanon squad announced
 Lebanon will be going into tomorrow's Asian first round qualifier for the 2010 FIFA World Cup against our Indian national team with the following squad.
Lebanon Squad
Ziad Al-Samad, Lari Muhnia, Mutazzbollah Al-Junaidi, Hussein Amine, Ali Al-Saadi, Bilal Nigareen, Ramiz Dayoub, Mohammed Al-Qarhani, Roda Antar, Faisal Antar, Khudyr Salama, Ali Yaqoub, Aamer Khan, Abbas Attwi, Hassan Matooq, Mohammed Ghaddar, Akram Maghrebi, Ali Nasserdinne, Paul Rustum, Mahmoud Al-Ali, Mohammed Halawi

October 3 , 2007 | IFC Interview with Bob Houghton
 Tomorrow India open their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign against Lebanon and our Dubai-based correspondent Jerry Joy had yet another chance to speak to national coach Bob Houghton during Team India's camp in Dubai and after last year's interview, Jerry eagerly lapped it up after one of the training sessions at the Al Ahli club in Dubai.
Click here to read the interview

October 3 , 2007 | IFC Interview with NP Pradeep
 Keralite Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, better known as NP Pradeep, was one of the heroes of India's Nehru Cup triumph in August and is seen as one of the future stars of Indian football.
Our Dubai-based correspondent Jerry Joy had a chance to meet up with India's "Steven Gerrard" after one of India's training session at Ahli Club in Dubai. During the training session NP Pradeep scored a marvellous goal with his trademark thunderbolt, about 30 yards away from the goal.
Click here to read the interview

October 1, 2007 | INDIA go past Al Nasr

<VIEW PICTURES>

Dubai Camp | Friendly Match:

Al Nasr Sports Club 1-2 India

Goals
1-0 Mohammed Khamees (12'), 1-1 NP Pradeep (38'), 1-2 Manjit Singh (58')

Linie-Ups
India: 20-Subrata Pal (23-Sandip Nandy, 1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury), 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh (12-Syed Rahim Nabi), 6-Gouramangi Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli (16-Samir Naik), 5-NS Manju (5-Debabrata Roy), 7-NP Pradeep (19-Bungo Singh), 40-Climax Lawerence (18-Mehraj din Wadoo), 23-Steven Dias (4-Krishnan Nair Ajayan), 8-P Renedy Singh (22-Clifford Miranda), 15-Baichung Bhutia (10-Tarif Ahmed), 58-Sunil Chetri (21-Abhishek Yadav, 9-Manjit Singh)

Match Report
Manjit Singh's strike in the 58th minute earned India a morale boosting 2-1 victory against a strong Al Nasr, Dubai side ahead of the Beirut 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Lebanon on October 8.
India once again employed the favoured 4-4-2 formation of Bob Houghton and started off with Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Gouramangi Singh and NS Manju in defence, Steven Dias, NP Pradeep, Climax Lawrence and Renedy Singh in the midfield and Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chetri leading the lines. India had Subrata Pal between the posts for the first half.
Cheered by a 1000+ crowd team India started the match in an attacking vein and maintained a high tempo which resulted in a few half chances but the first clear cut chance fell to Baichung Bhutia when Sunil Chetri chested down the ball from a Renedy Singh cross but Bhutia's bullet shot from outside the penalty box just flew over the bar. Indian team buoyed by that and the cheering crowd continued attacking but against the run of play Al Nasr earned a corner kick. The resulting corner resulted in Al Nasr's captain for the day Mohammed Khamees heading in a goal in the 12th minute.
The initial goal seemed to slow down the Indian team and the play was largely confined to the midfield but Al Nasr had started dominating possession and the Indians resorted to the high ball game and trying to run in behind Al Nasr defenders which did not succeed. Al Nasr strikers also missed two clear cut chances with only the goalkeeper to beat during this period from two superb crosses from the left wing. But in the 38th minute a loose ball was picked up by Climax in the midfield and passed forward to Bhutia. Bhutia who was suddenly converged on by two Al Nasr defenders threaded through a gem of pass between the defenders to give the over lapping Steven Dias time and space to play an inch prefect cross which was headed in by the onrushing NP Pradeep ahead of the first defender and the goalkeeper at the near post to bring India back on level terms. The game after the goal was disrupted by constant niggling fouls and injuries to Climax and Mahesh Gawli which resulted in Mehraj din Wadoo and Samir Naik replacing them. This resulted in Manju moving to the centre of defence and Samir Naik lining on the left side of defence. But India had two great chances to increase the lead just before the end of the half when a ball from Wadoo was lifted over Al Nasr defence and Chetri got in behind two Al Nasr players. Instead of going for goal Chetri tried heading the ball back for Bhutia to strike and the chance was lost. Another chance of the left hand side saw the Al Nasr goalkeeper raising out to clear the ball but Chetri got to the ball before him and rounded the goalkeeper. Chetri instead of shooting at the goal which was guarded by two Al Nasr defenders and due to the narrow angle tried passing the ball to Bhutia who could not connect properly as the ball just bobbled up before reaching him.
The second half saw Indians go in with a completely revamped team with Sandiy Nandy goal with Syed Rahim Nabi in the right wing back positon and Samir Naik in the left wing back position and Manju and Gouramangi Singh patrolling the defence. In the midfield Bungo Singh and Wadoo played in the middle while Clifford Miranda played on the left wing and Ajayan played on the right. Tarif Ahmed and Abhishek Yadav led the lines. The second half was a repeat of the first half with the Indians starting of on a good tempo with Abhishek Yadav planting a header from a Ajayan cross right into the center of the Al Nasr goal but it brought out an equally good save from the Al Nasr goalkeeper. But in the 51st minute the Indians had another injury scare when Abhishek Yadav had a clash of heads with an Al Nasr defender which resulted in Abhishek Yadav being taken to the hospital for further tests. This resulted in Manjit Singh coming in. In the 58th minute a great run by Clifford on the left wing left two players trailing him and he played a square pass to Manjit Singh on the left who advanced into the penalty box. Manjit Singh instead of crossing the ball cut back inside the defender and aimed a shot at the second post but the first defender helped the ball in the near post leaving the Al Nasr goalkeeper wrong footed. After the goal Al Nasr started exerting greater control over the game and the Indians were on the back foot throughout the match. But the poor final balls from Al Nasr and some great defending had India clinging on to their lead. When Al Nasr was able to get the final ball right and in three such occasions twice on set pieces coming in from freekicks from either wing Al Nasr players had absolute free headers which were headed out or straight into the hands of Nandy.
In the 75th minute Manju got into a small altercation with one of the Al Nasr players and the game after this saw a lot of rough tackles being thrown in. Manju for his part got a yellow card. Sensing this the Indians made a change with Debabrata Roy coming in for NS Manju which resulted in Debabrata playing on the left and Samir Naik moving to the middle of the defence.
In the 83th minute Nandy came running out of his goal to clear a ball and as a result of this seemed to hurt his hamstrings and he was replaced by Subhashish Roy Chowdhury. Subhashish was handed a yellow card for time wasting. Also Al Nasr had another great chance to square the game when their striker had a one on one chance with Subhashish but he shot straight at the goalkeeper. In the added time Debabrata Roy was given a yellow card but due to tha fact he was also wearing the number 5 jersey same as that of Manju he was sent off. Bob Houghton and the Indian team tried to protest but to no avail.
The game highlighted the fact that the Indian team were getting caught out at set pieces but they can take heart from the fact that they were able to score and win the game but there is room for improvement with the qualifiers coming up.

<click here for pictures>