What India does best is to lend eyeballs to the event making it the most watched telecast around the world
Hyderabad: The World Cup has reached the quarter-finals after getting past the moral blip of Uruguayan Luis Suarez and his biting ways. While some are already celebrating their places in the last eight, the Australasian teams went home with their tail between their legs. Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia didn’t win a single league game while they conceded 25 goals and scored just nine times.
While the Asian Football Confederation called this “disheartening”, it is evident that the “beautiful game” has evolved into something even more demanding physically. All big teams are prosperous enough to hire the best coaches and staff to tune players to optimal preparedness; but what they really need is more than just talent and preparation.
Football is a huge test of physique and character. Remote pedometers recording footballers’ movements reveal they (except goalkeepers) run almost 12 km in the regulation 90 minutes. To sustain performance after using such energy levels and still be capable of focusing on the game is a challenge that eluded Asians. Dissenting voices are already being heard on four automatic qualifying places for the continent.
Imagine then the plight of Indian football, that can only dream of making it to the World Cup 25 years or so into the future. Currently sandwiched between Malaysia and Singapore, with a world ranking of 154, what India does best is to lend eyeballs to the event making it the most watched telecast around the world.
