Minnow India has little hope in Qatar

It has taken India 27 years to qualify for its third Asian Cup and few are expecting any fireworks from a massive country that has never realised its footballing potential.

India is in Qatar courtesy of winning the eight-nation AFC Challenge Cup as host in 2008 - a tournament of lower-tier Asian teams.

It will be its first outing at the Asian Cup since 1984 where it failed to make any impact, in contrast to its maiden appearance in 1964 when it finished runner-up.

A repeat of that performance is highly unlikely with Bobby Houghton's squad more concerned with preventing any embarrassing scorelines, with the might of Australia, South Korea and Bahrain awaiting it in a tough Group C.

If recent results are any indication, it could be seriously out of its depth having lost 2-0 to Iraq, 9-1 to Kuwait and 5-0 to the UAE in November.

That match againt UAE, on Nov 18, was the last one it has played and it goes into the tournament clearly under-prepared.

It has also been hit by controversy with manager Pradeep Chowdhury walking out on the team in December after an apparent spat with Houghton, and with players accusing him of deserting them.

English journeyman Houghton, who used to play for Fulham and has previously coached China and Uzbekistan, admitted it faces an uphill task.

"I don't know what is realistic. We are 144 in the world and Australia and South Korea have just played the World Cup. That is a very tough group," he told goal.com.

Houghton, who has been in charge of India since 2006, has also been struggling with a spate of injuries to key players, including captain and striker Baichung Bhutia, although he has been named in the squad.

The 63-year-old has been around long enough to know that a thrashing in Qatar will spell the end of the road for him, despite having a contract that runs until 2013.

"You have to be realistic. If India goes out of the Asian Cup with no points there's going to be an enormous outcry to sack the coach. Sometimes decisions are taken out of your hands."

The 1950s and '60s was India's golden era, with the national team winning the Asian Games gold medals in 1951 and 1962 while becoming the first Asian nation to make it to the Olympic semifinals at Melbourne in 1956. But since those glory days, football has gone backwards, with infrastructure for its development poor compared to other countries in the region.

Currently ranked a lowly 144th in the world, recent successes have been limited to the South Asian region with victories in the Nehru Cup in 2007 and 2009 before the AFC Challenge Cup heroics handed India a ticket to Doha. Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamad bin Hammam recently blasted India's almost stagnant development in the sport, saying it was important that it started showing its potential.

"There is no reason why India should lag behind the rest of Asia," he said.

Agence France-Presse