Foreigners And Not Indians Decide Results in Indian Super League, Hints Bhaichung Bhutia

The Indian Super League is almost at its half-way stage. Apart from the glitz and glamour, the on-field performances of some Indian players have raised hopes for the national team, which has performed poorly on the international stage. (Indian Super League Organisers Give National Team a Cold Shoulder)

Mumbai City FC's Sunil Chhetri is currently the leading scorer with six goals, Atletico de Kolkata's Amrinder Singh has the most number of saves (21) while Kerala Blasters' Mehtab Hossain has defied his age in defence. But, interestingly, all the three teams find themselves in the bottom-half of the points table and Bhaichung Bhutia, former India captain and All India Football Federation's advisor, believes that the Indian Super League is misleading in this front. (Pele Wants India to Concentrate on Grassroots, but is Anyone Listening?)

"Some of the performances from the Indian players are great. Sunil has scored six goals Mumbai while (Mohammad) Rafi also has four goals for Kerala. Then the young Atletico goalkeeper Amrinder has been brilliant. But if you see all the three teams are in the bottom half," Bhutia told NDTV Sports. (Indian Super League's Marquee Blunder?)

"In all these teams the foreigners have not performed well, whereas teams like FC Pune City and Delhi Dynamos which are on top have been helped by the foreign players. The number of foreign players in the playing XI is more than the Indians and everybody is talking about it, it's something which needs to discussed by everybody."

Bhutia, who is also the AIFF advisor, said that another aspect which needs to be discussed by all the stakeholders is the scheduling of the Indian football calendar. (Wanted More Time for Preparations for Turkmenistan Clash: Sunil Chhetri)

"The national team should get proper time to train ahead of international matches. The calendar should be prepared in accordance with the international matches. We are already late in the current season, and as far as World Cup is concerned we are out of the race," he said.

"From next year, the club tournaments should be scheduled in such a way that they don't clash with international matches."

Bhutia highlighted the performance of the Indian team at the AFC U-16 qualifiers in this regard. "That team got time together and they qualified for the main tournament on the basis of their merit. This could have happened with the senior team players also but they never got the proper guidance. Had players like Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan, Eugeneson Lyngdoh got the right guidance, they would have been much better players," he said.

"The government is investing money for the U-17 team as it will be playing in the World Cup, which is a great initiative. I want government to be more proactive with other age-group teams as well for better results."

Bhutia was, however, unhappy at the absence of proper scouting. "Our scouting system has not been good. Our U-17 coach Nikolai came earlier this year and picked up some boys on his own, who are doing well. This should have started much before. We are trying to bring in a new scouting system which will be more effective," he said.

The 38-year-old Bhutia added that the state associations also need to be more involved. "Currently, some states even don't have a league, forget grassroots programme. The AIFF also doesn't have a committee which will be the go-to point for the states for any advice regarding tournaments or revenue model. I am trying to start this committee being part of the AIFF, but then I can only advise as the implementation part depends on the higher authorities," he said.