Nehru Cup perfect platform for India's world cup qualifiers:Hought

New Delhi, Aug 16 (UNI) India football coach Bob Houghton today said the Nehru Cup, which begins here tomorrow, would serve as the perfect platform for India's campaign for the coming World Cup Qualifiers.

India play Lebanon on home and away legs on October 8 and 28 in the first round of 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, though the AIFF is negotiating to shorten the gap between the two ties in view of the inaugural professional league scheduled to kickstart late next month.

Calling the Nehru Cup ''interesting'' for India, Houghton said Syria's presence in this tournament would be useful for India's match against Lebanon while Kyrgyzstan will serve the same purpose for the World Cup Qualifiers second round, if India go though first round.

''Syria, Lebanon and Jordan come from the same region and have comparable FIFA rankings and football standard.

So, Syria match here (in the Nehru Cup) will help us against lebanon,'' Houghton said at a press conference ahead of the Nehru Cup.

The Englishman, who took over the India reigns in June last year, looked beyond the first round in World Cup qualifiers.

''Hopefully, if we win against Lebanon and get past the first round, we are likely to play against Tajikistan or Turkeministan.

These two sides are in the same laegue (of football standard) as Kyrgyzstan, so the game against Kyrgyzstan in the Nehru Cup will be useful for us,'' he added.

Houghton, however, refused to read much to Kyrgyzstan coming with an understrength side with 10 of thier national regulars missing due to club engagements at home and abroad.

''A national side is a national side. We cannot take them lightly. As a coach, I cannot do that,'' Houghton said.

He also said because of the World Cup Qualifiers, the SAFF Games, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka and Maldives later this year, is likely to be cancelled.

''The AFC introduced the preliminary rounds this time (in the World Cup Qualifiers) and this will affect international and domestic calendars. The SAFF Games may not be held this year, because of this.

''This (World Cup Qualifiers) will also affect at least 50 professional league matches (in India) also,'' Houghton said.

The second round of the World Cup Qualifiers will be held in November, third round from February to September next year and round four from October next year to September 2009.

UNI