Houghton seeks help from clubs to build national squad

Kolkata, Aug 4 (UNI) In a meeting that lasted till late night Indian soccer coach Bob Houghton sought help from the three biggies of Kolkata maidan to build a strong national team with the 2014 World Cup in mind.

''Its a tough assignment. But we all have to try. Getting to play World cup in 2010 is not easy, but 2014 should be a realistic goal,'' Houghton said in the meeting with the coaches of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Md sporting here.

He seemed to have earned the trust of all the three coaches as he resolved to find a middle path for taking players to the national camp from the clubs.

''I dont want to hold camps for long sessions. I understand that the players spend the majority of their time playing for the clubs and so the clubs will have to take some responsibilities,'' he said.

''We both have to give in something. But I will make an arrangement that will not hurt the clubs' interest also,'' he reportedly said last night.

Bob stressed on physical fitness, mental resilience, tactical enhancement and technical expertise.

''Of these the physical fitness and mental toughness are two features that the clubs will have to take care of. The other two I will take into account,'' he said.

''If the players maintain their fitness level all though the year then it wont be a problem when they come for national duty. But please dont make injured players play,'' he said adding that for increasing mental toughness he planned to get a pshycologist in the camps.

''The lack of physical built will have to be overcome with fitness, agility and mental toughness and as the players are with their clubs, they will have to take a big chunk of responsibility for that,'' he said.

Those present in the meeting included East Bengal coach Carlos Perriera, Mohun Bagan coach Biswajit Bhattacharjee, Md Sporting coach Subhas Bhowmik and former assistent coach to Stephen Constantine Aloke Banerjee.

Houghton will visit Barasat stadium today to see Mohun Bagan and particularly Baichung Bhutia play. After that he will have a talk with the former Indian soccer team captain before deciding whether to draft him into the side for the camp.

The national camp for the Saudi Arabia match begins tomorrow at SAI facilities. The visitors arrive in Kolkata on August 12.

UNI BA SP PM KP1232