India football coach Bob Houghton conceded that his side has got a tough draw in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup final round but vowed to give their best in the continent’s showpiece event in Doha.
India were clubbed in Group C along with 2010 World Cup qualifiers Australia and South Korea, and Bahrain, who just missed the showpiece event in South Africa in a play—off, in the draw held in Doha last night, but Houghton said his men can be competitive against Asia’s top sides.
“Australia and Korea are two teams any coach would want to avoid being drawn alongside his team. The ranking itself speaks about the difference in standards. Bahrain also is good. Still we’ll try to put up the best effort,” Houghton said.
“The overall performance of the team has been improving steadily. We punched way above our weight in the recent tournaments. That’ll motivate our players. But still we’ve a long way to go,” he added.
The experienced Englishman had already chalked out a plan on how to prepare for the January 7—29 tournament and he feels that his side will have to have some “strategic preparations” before the event.
“I want the team to be together for a longer period ahead of the competition. We’ll spend some time in Europe preparing for the event. We hope to make strategic preparations ahead of the tournament,” said the 62—year—old former coach of China and Uzbekistan.
Houghton was though happy that the large expatriate crowd in Doha would cheer for India during the tournament.
“I know that there are a lot of Indians here. It’ll be nice to have their support, but we need to deliver on the field as well,” he was quoted as saying by the official AFC website.
Australia are Asia’s highest FIFA ranked side at 19th while South Korea are third highest at 49th besides finishing third in the earlier edition of Asian Cup in 2007.
Bahrain, who lost to New Zealand in a World Cup play—off, are ranked 67th in the world.
The Indian team, which qualified for the Asian Cup after 26 years by winning AFC Challenge Cup at home in 2008, are the lowest FIFA ranked side among the 16 participating teams at 132nd.
