October 8th and 13th India is to face Turkmenistan and Omanrespectively. India has dropped 12 places to be 167th in FIFA rankings. India's poor ranking is a result of three consecutive losses against Oman, Guam and Iran in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.This is only four places above the historical drop that Indian fell to last December.
Turkmenistan team stands at 155 which is a 6 places drop from the previous ranking. Turkmenistan football team founded in 1992 made its FIFA entry in 1994. While Oman is at 74 with a two rank gain. Both teams are formidable and like last time our team is not ready. Same old things are being repeated again.
Stephen Constantine, Head, India Coach is upset that the team is again not gettingtime to prepare for the Qualifiers. His plans for a camp from September 29 went to poop because Indian Super League teams were not ready to release their players for conditioning and training earlier than the standard FIFA norm of four days. Constantine wanted about 10 days to prepare the team for the qualifier. Well, hes getting about two days as the ISL players who are part of the team will join the rest of the team only on October 5thmorning. 48 hours to prepare for a World Cup Qualifier match. Are you kidding with us? The national team has been on a no win spree. Despite that they are getting only 2 days to prepare for the World Cup Qualifier. You are obviously kidding with us.
There are the 4 Cs that should be kept in mind for the Ultimate C - Country, Condition, Chance and Circumstance should be kept in mind while preparing for Championships. No one country can follow the same set of rules. What works for X may not work for Y or Z. Likewise, there is nothing known as more preparation but apparently India seems to be becoming the reigning ‘Champions of Less Preparation’, if that can be a title.
STAIRS School Football League (SSFL), is the newest and so far the largest initiative by STAIRS Started in 2014, the programme has created a platform to identify football talent at an early adolescent age and then provide him the best possible support to nurture the talent further. So far the project has made a difference to about 2,048 children, and in its second phase it aims not only to double the reach but also to add more value to each life it touches. This initiative is created to make sure that each and every child gets to play as playing is a fundamental right of each child. SSFL is open to every school going child in India absolutely free. Lastly it’s a platform to bring all kinds of schools be it public or government run schools to come on one single platform and promote a very positive sporting atmosphere. SSFL will also enable the students to develop skills like teamwork and good sportsmanship. Engaging in football will also improve the overall health, stamina and agility of the students. The league will have an exciting website, with match analysis of all games, including match videos. The players can log in and check the match and league statistics which will be updated regularly. Other information like the league’s top goal scorer, etc will be updated.