India&rsquo;s defeat to Afghanistan in the final of the SAFF Cup &mdash; a tournament India has won in six out of nine editions &mdash; in Kathmandu on Wednesday is a wake-up call for the football fraternity which is split between the I-League and the franchise-based IMG-Reliance League that the All India Football Federation plans to introduce next year.u00a0 <img alt="Afghanistan players" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/sep/Afghanistan-players_1.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 270px;" /> Afghanistan players celebrate a goal against India in the SAFF Cup final in Kathmandu. Pic/AFP Moments after India&rsquo;s 0-2 loss, coach Wim Koevermans expressed his fears for the future of the game in the country given that a host of India players including Subrata Paul, Nirmal Chhetri, Syed Rahim Nabi, Gourmangi Singh and Sandesh Jhingan are without clubs since they are contracted with the IMG-R League, which most I-League clubs are in conflict with. Former India striker IM Vijayan is convinced the team&rsquo;s defeat could be a worrying sign for things to come if the IMG-I League impasse continues. &ldquo;Though the Indian team played quite well in the SAFF Cup, the final defeat is definitely disappointing. But the crucial phase for Indian football begins now. Unless both factions &mdash; AIFF and I-League Clubs &mdash; come together and work out a compromise formula to let both the I-League as well as the IMG-R League take place, Indian football will only head further down,&rdquo; Vijayan told MiD DAY yesterday. <img alt="IM Vijayan, Godfrey Pereira and Abhishek Yadav" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/sep/Vijayan.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 241px;" /> Superstrikers: Former India forwards IM Vijayan, Godfrey Pereira and Abhishek Yadavu00a0 &ldquo;I-League is good but it has failed to lift the profile of Indian football. We can&rsquo;t afford to make excuses after losing to Afghanistan. I&rsquo;ve heard tales of their players having to train while keeping an eye out for a bullet apart from the ball. I&rsquo;m not saying Afghanistan is a bad team, but their players have faced a lot of adversity while playing for the nation. Compare this to the stable political and economic situation here and you wonder why Indian football is still struggling,&rdquo; said Vijayan, nicknamed the Black Pearl of Indian football in his heyday. Former India captain Godfrey Pereira, seconded Vijayan&rsquo;s views. &ldquo;India desperately lacks strikers to replace the calibre of Baichung Bhutia and now Sunil Chhetri. And the reason for this is the I-League. Show me one I-League club that has an Indian playing in the out-and-out striker&rsquo;s role. Almost every team has a Nigerian or some other foreign striker. In the SAFF final, Chetri was introduced late in the match, but why are we over-reliant on him. It&rsquo;s time for change,&rdquo; he said. Abhishek Yadav, another former India striker, reckoned this is a crucial phase for Indian football. &ldquo;As coach Koevermans has rightly pointed, national players not having clubs to play for is a worrying sign. But that worry hasn&rsquo;t affected the players yet because the season is yet to start. u00a0However, the time to settle this tug-of-war starts now. It&rsquo;s high time people swallow their egos and work towards the betterment of football,&rdquo; said Yadav. u00a0

Former India players believe it's high time the I-League vs IMG-Reliance League tussle is resolved for the betterment of Indian football

SAFF defeat is a wake-up call: Former footballers

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SAFF defeat is a wake-up call: Former footballers

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