Bhaichung Bhutia

Gurgaon: Bhaichung Bhutia on Wednesday said that club coaches in India should interact more with Bob Houghton to learn about strategies and tactics of modern football.

Speaking to The Telegraph on the eve of India’s tour of Portugal, Bhaichung said that he was “extremely happy” to see many top club coaches come over to the camp in Gurgaon and discuss “several things” with the national coach.

“There is no shame in saying that we have a lot to learn from Bob,” Bhaichung said. “He (Houghton) and, for that matter, most of the European coaches are far more knowledgeable than ours. Results show it clearly. Then what is the harm in learning from them?” he asked.

The ace striker, who is also going to lead the side in Portugal, disagreed with the view of certain coaches that Houghton’s style of training couldn’t be adopted in club coaching, especially in Calcutta.

“This is nothing but a lame excuse,” he observed. “The problem is we haven’t made any effort to change ourselves. Had we taken the right approach, we wouldn’t have been languishing at 161 in the Fifa rankings.”

“Things rarely move in Calcutta because we don’t want to move,” was Bhaichung’s straightforward observation about the Maidan football.

“I have been playing in the Maidan for the past 15 years (representing both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal)… I could hardly spot any improvement there,” he rued.

“There should be more interaction between Houghton and club coaches. In other countries you have to pay to learn from a top coach, but here, you have an opportunity to get it free. Then why not take the opportunity?” Bhaichung wondered.

He also regretted that the criteria of success in Indian football are still very low. “Let any team win the Calcutta League 2000 times and National Football League 100 times. How does it matter in the long run? Will it in any way help India win in international arena? It’s time we came out of the groove,” he pointed out.

Talking about the tour of Portugal, the Indian captain said the team would be playing their natural game.

“As we had done during the previous tours of England, we wouldn’t be ultra defensive. We would rather play our natural game and try to gain confidence as much as possible,” he maintained.