By Abhishek Roy, IANS
Gurgaon : With the national team gearing up for a crucial season ahead to improve their FIFA rankings, captain Bhaichung Bhutia feels it is high time players "delivered for Indian football".
"It is high time the players pulled up their socks and delivered for the sake of Indian football. We haven't performed well in recent times, especially when it mattered," Bhutia told IANS on the sidelines of the national camp here.
"It is a new season that looks very promising. We have lot of international matches lined up that will give us a chance to improve our rankings considerably."
The national camp concludes July 12, when the squad will leave for Portugal for a two-week training stint. India will play a friendly match with a Portuguese first division club side and also face two Division II teams during the tour.
"The experience of playing in Portugal will really benefit us. The Portuguese have top class teams and their training standards are also very high," he said.
Bhutia also had some words of praise for the current team.
"This team is developing and as we play more the boys will mature. Some of the players have a very bright future and will surely shoulder the responsibility of carrying the team to greater heights," he maintained.
India, currently 161 in FIFA rankings, will play the seven-nation ONGC Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium here in mid-August and defend the title in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup, to be jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and the Maldives in December.
In March 2008, India will take part in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Trophy, where teams outside the top 15 in Asia participate. India's first World Cup qualifier for the 2010 event in South Africa is likely to be on Feb 6 next year. The draw for the World Cup qualifiers is yet to be made.
The Indian captain is excited about the fact that he will be playing in a full-fledged international tournament on home soil after nearly a decade.
"We haven't played any tournament at home for a decade. In 1997, we had the Nehru Cup in Kochi and reached the semi-finals. In Delhi we hope to perform even better as we will again have the home advantage," he said.
On India's chances in the World Cup qualifiers, Bhutia said: "Let's be realistic. Indian football still has a long way to go. Teams that play in the World Cup spend a huge amount of money on the player development. For us improving our rankings should be the priority.
"We need good infrastructure and youth development programmes if we want to dream of the World Cup finals. The development programmes can act as a supply line for the national team," he pointed out.
Bhutia also urged the clubs to understand the need of the hour and asked them to cooperate for the sake of the national team.
"The clubs should understand the gravity of the situation and release players for national duty. Even FIFA president Sepp Blatter asked clubs to cooperate for the sake of Indian football. Our football can only develop if we perform well on the international stage."