Panaji: Bhaichung Bhutia made his international debut in 1995 as a second-half substitute and scored in his next game when handed his first start. It came against Asian Games champions Uzbekistan in the Nehru Cup.
“We went on to win 1-0 against Uzbekistan and in the next six to ten games, we won more than 50% of the matches,” the former India captain and one of the country’s greatest footballers told TOI over a video call on Thursday. “Look at Uzbekistan now; they’ve completely changed, it’s a completely different team.”
Uzbekistan is the first Central Asian country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and will face Portugal, Colombia and DR Congo in the group stage. At 50, they are ranked significantly higher than many other countries at the global sporting showpiece. They are also completely unrecognisable from the team that tasted defeats at the hands of Bhutia’s India, now ranked a poor 138.
It was an Uzbek, late Rustam Akramov, who gave Bhutia his international debut and took India to the top 100 in the FIFA rankings. The country could now show India the path to the top, at least in Asia. “We always try and look at European football models, but Uzbekistan can be a good model to follow. Look how they’ve made it to the World Cup, even Jordan. We have to understand their grassroots programmes, investments, league structure, player development. Just copying Premier League or La Liga doesn’t help. Uzbekistan and Jordan are realistic examples,” said Bhutia, who headlines Zee5's English-language expert panel for World Cup coverage.
Bhutia was part of four World Cup qualifying campaigns, including in 2002, when India missed out on reaching the final round by a solitary point. The team kicked off its qualification with a win against UAE, then ranked 64 in the world, but lost the away clash 1-0 after the star striker was sent off early in the second half.
“We were very close to qualification (to the final round). I often wonder why FIFA didn’t have a 48-team World Cup and set aside eight spots for Asia during our time. That would have led to a completely different mindset. You would be more positive, full of enthusiasm, and fancy your chances. Just four qualifying spots was always going to be tough.
“Even now, for India, it’s not impossible. We need long-term grassroots development (programme). Lot of grassroots events take place but it’s just for the sake of it; 15 days, sometimes a month, that’s it. We need to have kids playing throughout the year. They need to be training, competing. I think Vision 2047 (strategic roadmap launched by AIFF) is kept inside the drawer,” said Bhutia.
