ISL is great but what about the Indian national football team?

Nothing is more frustrating for a football fan than to watch his national team fail repeatedly. As Iran thumped India 3-0 in the Group D FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifier, one question, which has always been a talking point, once again popped up: what is so wrong with Indian football that it can’t be fixed?

The Indian Super League (ISL) was a huge success and it became the fourth most-attended football league in the world in its inaugural year. So why is it that we can organise a brilliant two-and-a-half-month long league that gets noticed all over the world but we fail to do the same for the I-League? The Indian team doesn’t have proper training facilities in the country whereas the ISL teams go overseas for pre-season training. This void needs to be bridged.

India are currently ranked 155th in FIFA rankings and rather than showing improvement, our ranking keeps getting worse every year. Iran’s national team coach, Carlos Quiero, who has also managed Real Madrid, said after the match against India that he has seen Turkmenistan and Guam in the qualifiers and that India deserve to be ranked higher. He said it because he saw India made an aggressive start in the match and on many occasions left his players surprised and confused.

But still, India have never shown the maturity to excel at the stage where it matters the most.

Lack of proper training facilities, poor infrastructure and not having good coaches are few of the points that can be considered reasons for India's failure at the international level. But one constant that has held Indian football backwards is inability to scout talent. FIFA can grant millions of dollars to improve the game in

India, India can start new training academies and improve the infrastructure but all this would not do much if we don't have the proper talent.

Scouting good players is not an easy task. It is not like you will start a talent hunt all over the country and suddenly you will have a pool of talented young players getting ready to make their mark in the world football. We have tried that earlier in cricket to get premier fast bowlers but it didn’t turn out very well.

We want our leagues to be at the same level as the top clubs in Europe but we are ages behind them when it comes to scouting talent and having proper league structure at the junior level. ISL is doing its bit at the grassroots level, which should only help Indian football grow.

In Europe, every city and town where football is followed has clubs at junior level. So by the time a kid reaches the age of 12-14, big clubs come hunting and pick them as part of their development programmes. But such a structure is not yet in place in India; however, ISL promises to make it better, which is why the league has huge potential.

The defeat against Iran was not a humiliating one considering India’s poor show in the World Cup qualifiers against the lower-ranked teams like Nepal, Oman and Guam.

The defenders made a gritty effort against the world-class Iranian attack but our forward line was almost invisible throughout the match and opposition's defence was hardly tested. That should be the biggest concern for the Indian football coach Stephen Constantine. We don’t have quality strikers. Sunil Chhetri is growing old while Robin Singh and Jeje Lalpekhlua don’t get to play quality football where they are really tested.

The ISL, with all the big names, can make the game popular in the country but if we want our national team to at least be competitive at the international level, then the state leagues should be given better infrastructure and the game needs to spread.

FIFA’s Secretary General Jerome Valcke told the ISL website: “What is important is that whenever you do something at the top level, you don't forget about the grassroots programmes and to develop football at the level of the kids.”

Hosting the under-17 Football World Cup in 2017 is a big responsibility given by FIFA to India and the AIFF (All India Football Federation) should see this as an opportunity to improve the condition of stadiums and training facilities at the junior level along with hosting a world-class event.