Subject: National Team

Wales in the pre-quarters can be a tricky opponent. They've had a topsy turvy group stage as they beat table toppers Malaysia but lost to a team which finished bottom, Kazakhstan.

But regardless, I see India facing off against neighbors China in the quarter finals.

Asia Cup journey disappointingly comes to an end in the pre-quarters itself. Our forwards simply couldn't convert the many opportunities that they got and the Cymru forwards converted the one of two chances. It was a really frustrating game to watch particularly since we had topped the group stage beating a stronger Indonesia side. Wales have continued to surprise but I don't see them winning the quarters.

I think we missed our friendly for the week.

Ok, so I think we've been drawn in a decent group. While at first glance, it would seem that maybe India will fight for the 3rd place with Chile, but on a closer look, I feel that we can even push for a 2nd place with a little bit of luck. We certainly have a strong team and played well in the recent Asian Cup but were unlucky against Wales. I predict a big tussle for the 2nd spot and it will be an interesting group to follow. I haven't been following our senior NT team as much as our junior NT team but with this WC, I might become more and more familiar with our senior players and will try to chip in with a few inputs here and there. For starters, it would be great if @Prezsmo lists down say, a 16 player squad that will be featuring in most of the games in this WC.

Let's go!

A good result against Chile. Hope we can repeat it against Norway or go 1 step further and get the win.
Kenya and Cameroun should definitely be wins for us. Must not slip up there.
This is our best chance yet to qualify for the next round.
Must ensure we beat Cameroun and Kenya by large margins coz 2nd place might just come down to GD.

A good win against Kenya with 4 goals. That will help our GD.
When the group table is updated India will be 1st :)
Chile however got a great result against Germany with a draw. I hope we can also manage the same.

Our main forward Saripella (scored 2 goals till now) is injured for the next 11 days so we won't be seeing him against Norway. Instead, I assume Bhaichung Sandeep will be playing in his stead and although he scored a goal against Kenya, his overall goals/match ratio isn't too impressive (might also be because he played as subs in most games?).

Also, Norway didn't play with their main forwards against Cameroon and hence managed to score only 2 goals. Will it hurt them in the long run?
(edited)

What a brilliant draw for our team against Norge, a much higher ranked team.
Great stuff Przemo.

Thanks Hoodibaba,
this season it was very close to a promotion. The problem is that there are too few good players. We need more midfielders. Thanks to you, the defense is secured for years. Great job Hoodibaba!

my hierarchy in individual positions :

Goalkeepers
1. Nirmal Chitnis - 33 y. -
legend NT India. I love him.

2. Mahesh Meenakshisundaram - 26 y. -
I have no conviction for him. But he will be in NT for the next 6 - 8 years.

3. Vincent Chandramouli - 22 y.
huge talent, maybe it will be nr. 1 in 2 years.

Defenders
1. Aqueel Tanuja - 30 y.
defense leader, made a lot of progress.

2. Raghuvir Sumanna - 26 y.
my favorite defender, but I put him in midfield by necessity. With Tanuja are the best defenders.

3. Ramesh Smirti - 31 y.
a very experienced center-back. has been playing for many years and never disappoints.

4. Raghuvir Ujesh - 28 y.
Similar level like a Smirti, but younger.

5. Praven Nayar - 29 y.
Very good side defender.

6. Vijth Phadkar - 28 y.
plays similar to Nayar, but is below him in the hierarchy of side defenders.

7. Dominic Nema - 31 y.
He play many years and i like him. he doesn't have the skills mentioned above.

8. Rajesh Chivukula 27 y.
Reserve defender. gets your game chances.


Midfielders (there is huge problem)

1. Kasilingam Nitu 27 y.
Now is the best midfielder in NT. but he's not an outstanding player.

2. Harvinder Varsha 33 y.
He is number 2 and the best winger. its glory years are long behind him.

3. Sandip Manjusha 36 y.
it is sad that the primary player is a 36-year-old. He was a legend. I think the best player in whole history of India sokker. I am proud that he made his debut under my leadership.

4. Kaustav Saidullah - 26 y.
Avarage player, but he will play more in the future.

5. Desmond Venkatasubramani - 28 y.
The same as Saidullah.

... and this is the end.

Strikers - here is more interesting
1. Baiju Saripella - 29 y.
The best Striker. He has scored important goals for many seasons.

2. Gurpret Nanga - 28 y.
Huge talent. could be better than Saripella, but a few seasons wasted by the club. Now have a great form.

3. Baichung Sandeep - 28 y.
Number 3, nice reserve player.

4. Lolendra Subbarayan - 24 y.
young talent, great potential. In next season will be more play, i promise.

5. Farukh Panji - 26 y.
He hasn't developed as much as I thought. he is currently avarage striker.

Thanks for your kind words.
Good to see you in the forums.
That was a great result we got against a stronger Malaysia
(edited)

Yes, the game against Malaysia was good for us but not perfect.
Coming back to the finished qualifiers, I regret that we did not get promoted from this group.
The first match with Germany showed that we can compete and win with the world's top leaders. We deserved to win in that game and these 3 points could have given us a promotion. It was the best match I remember in our performance with the 7th team in the world.

All these eliminations showed that we have a strong team and the tactics are working. We only have to play 3 midfielders, because we have a total of 3 on the representative level, 2 of which are retired ... Our strength is defense (all thanks to Hoodibaba) and we have to use it by playing 5 great defenders.

I will dedicate this season to two aims:

1. Promotion in the ranking to the top 48 (maybe 32?) And 3rd basket in future qualifying rounds.
2. Finding the optimal composition for the qualifying round next year. ... And next year, a historic promotion to the World Championships !!!
(edited)

Sounds like a good plan :)

A great result for our main team today as well against Nederland, even though it was a friendly.
For all of you that don't know, the manager of Nederland, De Generaal, was the 1st NT manager of India. He too did a great job with the NT for many seasons. Obviously we didn't have the players then, that we have now.

Great result against Nederland. Congratulation Przemo

Thanks, this is the plan to climb the ranking. We were a bit unlucky because we conceded a goal in the last minute. Draw with the 16th world team is great anyway.
I planned the calendar so that we will play all games against the better teams in the ranking, but we can beat them.
that's him:

Week 01: Nederland (ranking 16)
Week 02: Sverige B (41 ranking)
Week 03: Bosna i Harcegovina U-28 plus 2 older (34 ranking)
Week 04: Latvija (40 ranking)
Week 05: Slovensko (25th ranking)
Week 06: Chile home (38 ranking)
Week 07: Chile away (38 ranking)
Week 08: Pilipinas (44 ranking)
Week 09: Hayastan U-28, no limit
(51 ranking)
Week 10: ASIAN CUP GROUP PHASE
Week 11: ASIAN CUP GROUP PHASE
Week 12: ASIAN CUP GROUP PHASE
Week 13: ASIAN CUP 8TH OF FINAL
Week 14: ASIAN CUP 4TH OF FINAL (OUR AIM MINIMUM)
Week 15: ASIAN CUP SEMIFINAL
Week 00: ASIAN CUP FINAL OR Ireland U-27 (71 ranking)

what do you think about it?