India's passion for cricket has relegated other sports to the background. They suffer because every kid in India wants to hold a cricket bat or ball. This is basically due to the popularity of the game. Football also should have that popularity to attract kids to that game. There is also a lack of proper training academies in India for football. What Iam saying is that India will not have a competitive football team for atleast another 10 years. I say 10 years because first you have to identify talent by giving opportunities to people. This has to be done in both rural and urban centres. Hold more tournaments, more matches. Secondly, set up world-class training academies. Get foreign coaches if you have to. Send promising players abroad so that they can get a feel of the game played there. Give suitable rewards for good performances. Thirdly, build a good infrastructure for football. We have so many world-class cricket grounds but not even a single good football ground. Just think how many youngsters will get influenced if they see the likes of Ronaldo or Henry playing in India. All this has to be done if India wants to improve its ranking from the lowly 127 in the world.
