Indian coach looking for experience on England tour

The national soccer squad leaves for a tour of England this week after a short training camp hit by poor attendance.

Some key players did not take part in the 10-day session or arrived late because they were not released by their clubs, but national coach Sukhwinder Singh is hoping the squad will pull together.

"Even second division sides in England will be much superior to us. It will be tough, but the boys are experienced and I hope they give a good account of themselves," said Singh.

Experienced striker I. M. Vijayan and defender Deepak Mondal were not released by East Bengal club, India's national league champions.

Top striker Baichung Bhutia, who plays for Bury in the English second division, will join the squad in England, where India will play four matches against English sides.

They will meet second division Brentford on July 24, first division Nottingham Forest on July 28 and Walsall on August 3, and third division Leyton Orient on July 31.

Singh said it was important that all players took part in the preparatory camp to work on various combinations, blaming the national authorities for the poor attendance.

"There is no way but to adjust. The players have been playing together and I will try to use the few days we will have before the first match to overcome this handicap," he said.

The national team gave an encouraging showing in the recent World Cup Asian zonal qualifying matches, scoring an upset win over eventual qualifiers United Arab Emirates before finishing third in the four-team group.

India finished level on points with second-placed Yemen and were below them only on goal difference.

The performance helped the former Asian Games champions to move up to 113th in the latest FIFA world rankings from 122nd, ahead of more World Cup qualifying matches in May.

The Indian team lost all their games at last month's Merdeka tournament in Kuala Lumpur.