CURRENT ISSUE JUNE 12, 2006

PICTURE SPEAK

SOCCER ICON: Brazil's Ronaldinho

Game. They make it flow in a way that is bewitching to the European eye. Their spontaneity, and in particular Ronaldinho's ability to perform with a smile on his face-like a child at play-excites new African World Cup nations like Angola. It stimulates the Japanese, as formal a society as you could find, to send their own team to the World Cup with a former Brazilian great, Zico, as its coach.

PICTURE SPEAK

STAR XI: India Today's pick of a World XI to watch for from the players on show in Germany.

To win this tournament, to retain the crown that Brazil has periodically worn since the emergence of Pele as a 17-year-old World Cup winner in Sweden in 1958, the South American country must be the best of 32 nations. Its challenge will come from close by, from Argentina, and of course from the Europeans, especially Germany, because it has the considerable power of home support, and from Italy.

Italy, and not my own country England?

We Englishmen are fretting on a tiny bone called a metatarsal in the right foot of Wayne Rooney. He, at 20, is the real inspiration of the English team, far more so than David Beckham whose cult status is a figment of global marketing manipulation. England has other strengths, and watch out for Steven Gerrard if you really wish to see the embodiment of physical force propelled by true never-say-die British spirit. Yet force without imagination, England without Rooney, is such a weakened unit that the whole nation waits for daily bulletins from the medical people. He broke his foot on April 29, and England is suffering.

It is like sending India in to bat without Sachin Tendulkar. But whereas I share your admiration for the master batsman, imagine how much greater the clamour, the reward, the expectation is for a Ronaldo. He is 29. This is his fourth, probably his last, World Cup, and he has two winners' medals from 1994 and 2002. The experts in print around the world describe him as a spent force, just as they did before the last World Cup. He came to that one with his knees gutted through surgery, he shrugged off the doubt and pain, and scored eight precious goals in a career tally of 61 goals from 97 appearances for Brazil. Now, the doubters are at his heels again.

GUEST COLUMN: Sunil Gulati

Why Not India?   PICTURE SPEAK THE BOYS LINE UP: The Indians circa 2006 Just after I was elected a couple of months ago at the US Soccer's annual general meeting in Las Vegas, we announced plans to initiate an active international relations/outreach programme. Thereafter, I received informal feelers from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and now I look forward to meeting the Indians at the upcoming FIFA Congress in Munich. At the outset let me mention that I am not very familiar with the specifics of Indian football. But obviously there is a natural connection between India and me. I happened to be in Delhi three years ago when the AIFF hosted a Vision India conference for soccer. I don't think Indian football has many easy lessons to draw from the US as the challenges in India are quite different from those in the US. Here we have millions of kids who play the game at school level, it is almost universal. Our big task is how to turn a very large participant base into a much larger spectator and television audience. In India, however, the interest in the World Cup, even without an Indian team participating, will be huge. But passing by a local school, one is more likely to see cricket bats rather than soccer balls. In India the challenge is to popularise football as a domestic game and attract greater participation and inculcate interest. Once these two ends of the spectrum are covered, the Indian football and sports institutions need to initiate a vibrant professional league and player development programme. INACTION REPLAY India Today tracks India's tryst with world football India's only brush with the World Cup came in 1950 when it turned down a late invitation to play in Brazil. FIFA had made it mandatory to play football in boots and the Indians were used to playing barefeet. Between 1951 and 1962 India was counted amongst the best of Asian footballing nations, winning the Asian Games gold in 1951 and 1962 in Jakarta. India was the first Asian country to reach the Olympic football semi-final, finishing fourth in Melbourne in 1956. India's current FIFA ranking is 117, with Palestine at 115 and Hong Kong at 116. The highest-paid Indian footballer is captain Baichung Bhutia whose club salary per season has ranged between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 30 lakh. This season Mohun Bagan is expected to sign him for a salary around Rs 35 lakh Commercial interest, i.e., sponsorships will trigger spectator curiosity. With increased participation of people and fan following-as more kids watch it and get interested in the players-the game will gain popularity in India. Commercial partners indeed help in promoting a game and enhancing awareness. For instance, in America we know there will be a large number of people watching the World Cup and listening to broadcasts in multiple languages. Thus American television and sponsors have paid money to attract advertisers and be part of the spectacle. This is true for the Olympics as well, which is driven commercially in part by a huge contract with the NBC. But that does not directly translate into commercial interest for some of the sports-like swimming or gymnastics-that are part of the Olympic movement. So eyeballs for the World Cup do not lead directly into support for a professional league or domestic soccer, although it helps for sure. I often cite the example of Mia Hamm, a true sports icon in the United States. She is a great personality, a great player, a world champion multiple times and an Olympic gold medallist. Nike, like Gatorade, saw all that and jumped at the prospect of using her as an endorsee; that made her even bigger. A Gatorade commercial with Michael Jordan, a building named after her at the Nike campus, all enhanced public awareness. So here was a great soccer player who was made even greater. Same is the case with Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. I know sponsors have taken him even further in terms of awareness and appeal. But of course, he had to be a good sportsman in the first place. To the big question then: has India missed the bus? I don't think so. India has a great base in terms of human resources. But there's a lot of work to be done. Clearly, the level of the National League is not where the Federation would like it to be. It will need a significant infusion of resources. What I can tell you is that in a fairly short period of time-after not having qualified for the World Cup in 40 years-the US has come a long way since 1990 (at present it is ranked fifth by FIFA). China qualified for its first World Cup four years ago. There are always first-time qualifiers-this year we have Angola and Trinidad and Tobago amongst others. So, why not India? On the other hand there are traditional soccer powers like Brazil, Germany and Italy that participate in virtually every World Cup, but tradition of such strength takes time. New York-based Sunil Gulati is the President of US Soccer and teaches economics at Colombia University

They deem him too fat, too lazy, too under-motivated because he succumbs to repetitive injuries at Real Madrid. Again, just watch him, look at it through unbiased eyes, and do not be surprised if Ronaldo comes alive again on Germany's playing fields. Consider, too, the material and motivational aspects of this month in Europe's mid-summer.

Tendulkar is, for good reason, something of a god in India. The wealth that he draws from being so, and the celebrity value of his game, is dwarfed by a select band of soccer players. Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, and, less deservedly, Beckham, have salaries that project them into the realms of heads of state and business and film magnates. They have a cache that is spread wherever their game is played.

And that is everywhere. Just as the football is four times the size of a cricket ball, so the profile, the finances, and what they call pressure is commensurately larger.

It is not Tendulkar's fault that he is born in India, and his hand-to-eye gifts are naturally channelled into a sport that can claim just ten nations playing to Test match level. Football boasts of 204 nations or territories eligible to play the World Cup. It is the true lingua franca, and I have stopped being surprised when, for example, Sung Gong, the chief monk of a Buddhist temple on Jeju island south of Korea, urges me to extend an invitation to David Beckham and Co. to play his men on the temple lawns.

You may have noticed that I held back on two elements in this article-corruption and Italy. The two are synonymous, and in a sport that has become all things, it is hardly surprising that someone somewhere taints the Beautiful Game.

Right now, Italy's club football is in meltdown. Its champion club, Juventus, has been accused of match-fixing and of systematic influence over referees, not just in the Italian national championship but in Europe's Champions' League as well. Day after day, fresh allegations are leaked by prosecuting magistrates to the media. Marcello Lippi, the former Juventus trainer and now national team coach, has been implicated. Gigi Buffon, the Italian goalkeeper who is arguably the best No.1 in the game, has been accused of illegal betting.

Gambling abuses, stretching to betting syndicates in East Asia, are suspected to be polluting top club football in Belgium. A year ago Germany uncovered a corrupt referee, paid for by a Croatian betting ring in Berlin. And from China to Marseille the infiltration of sinister betting has fed on the fascination for the sport.

PICTURE SPEAK

WARMING UP: Japan and Germany in a pre-Cup fixture

Yet, we have been on this route before. In 1982, when Italy won the World Cup, its hero was Paolo Rossi, a stealthy pickpocket of a goal-scorer who had been amnestied to play in that tournament despite being found guilty of match-fixing the previous year. The Italians declared that "sporting fraud is not a crime". They deserved to win that Cup, not the least for the breathtaking performance when Rossi scored a hat-trick and Italy beat Brazil 3-2. But accepting then that corruption was a minor matter has led to today's winner-takes-all attitude, regardless of ethics. And once again, I suspect that being accused will merely bond the Italian squad together to take on the world-and beat most of its teams.

There is one more inescapable aspect we dare not ignore. The World Cup has become the biggest stage on earth. Experts tell us that the 64 matches during June and July will add up to five billion television viewers across the globe. That is irresistible to all manner of minds. We must expect that security will be tight, even oppressive. There will be NATO surveillance planes in the sky, aware that Munich, where the games begin, was the scene where Palestinian terrorists had killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

There must also be armies of police on the ground, separating the overly nationalistic hooligans who come in the train of World Cup excitement. After all, it's the Beautiful Game-reflecting all of man's, and woman's, habits.

Rob Hughes, arguably the world's foremost football writer, will be reporting on the World Cup from Germany for India Today.

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