JEDDAH, 8 September 2006 — Pradip Chaudhury, manager of the Indian football team that received a 7-1 drubbing from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night, said yesterday he would have preferred non-Arab referees to supervise the game.

“I’ve no complaint against the Saudi or other Arab referees, in fact they did a good job, but the organizers of the Asian Cup qualifying round could have drafted referees from the non-Arab parts of Asia,” he told Arab News in an exclusive interview at Radisson SAS Hotel.

Many TV viewers of the game had confirmed that two of the Saudi goals should not have been allowed due to off-side, he said, adding that proper judgments would have narrowed the margin of defeat.

“The main reason for our poor showing was that our players were intimidated by one of the best teams in Asia. Also, they found it difficult to play in hot and humid weather conditions,” Chaudhury said.

The final tally could have been further narrowed by India if they had succeeded in converting two of the best possible chances, he added.

“It was a close match in the first half, but after the breather our boys failed miserably due to poor stamina. We played the game well in patches, but we need to play well consistently to present a better showing.”

Even in an earlier round in Calcutta when the Kingdom won 3-0, India had a glaring chance to narrow the margin of defeat by at least a couple of goals, he said.

With the defeat, India failed to qualify for the Asian Cup having lost all four games including against Japan 6-0 and Yemen 3-0.

Asked about the poor state of Indian football, Calcutta-based Chaudhury, who headed the third tournament in his capacity as team manager, said: “There has been no long-term planning. The game should be promoted at the grassroots level. Our senior players definitely show improvement, but the team needs to constantly look for and groom new talents.”

According to him, coach Bob Hutton, who has been with the team for about two months, had been working hard. “Surely, we need three to four years for our position in Asia to go up. I’m confident that within the next three-four years our position in Asia will improve from 26 to four or five,” Chaudhury said.

Asked whether Indian football suffered from support and patronage from the corporate world unlike cricket, Chaudhury said: “We have Zee India Media Group as our sponsor since last year. Money is not a problem. What is needed is the execution of plans to promote the game. Our football players play too many domestic tournaments. So to constitute a proper national team needs time.”

Team captain Baichung Bhutia said: “We played well in the first half, but failed in the remaining part of the game as our boys were exhausted due to the weather conditions here. Saudis are a strong team and well experienced. They come to the field with a game plan and execute it effectively.”

Football needs to be promoted all over India, as it is mostly concentrated in the states of West Bengal, Goa, Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra (Bombay in particular), said Bhutia who has been captain of the national team from 2000. “We’re happy with our coach who joined us only recently,” he added.

Goalkeeper Sandeep Nandi, who has been playing for Mahindra United in domestic tournaments for the last six years, said that the Indian team should play more games at such and other international locations to improve their ranking in Asia.

Dr. Manabendra Bhattacharya, the team’s tour doctor and scientific officer (sports medicine) at the Sports Authority of India, said the overall fitness of the 20-member squad was satisfactory. “There are areas in which they need to work hard to improve their strength and stamina.”

The team return home by Air-India today.