Legendary footballer Bhaichung Bhutia on Saturday told the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) executive committee that he is resigning from his membership of the technical committee, alleging that the panel was “bypassed” while appointing the national men’s team head coach. Spaniard Manolo Marquez, who is currently in charge of Indian Super League side FC Goa, was on Saturday named India head coach by the AIFF executive committee. He will succeed Croatian Igor Stimac, who was sacked on June 17 after India failed to qualify for the third round of 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Bhutia, who is a co-opted member of the executive committee as a former player and attended Saturday’s meeting here, claimed that under normal practice, the technical committee recommends the head coach of the national team. The current technical panel is headed by legendary IM Vijayan.

“I have been chairman of AIFF technical committee in the past (2013 to 2017) and involved in coach appointments like in case of Stephen Constantine. It is the job of the technical committee to shortlist the candidates who have applied and recommend the suitable person to become coach. But this time, there was not even a single technical committee meeting to appoint successor of Stimac,” Bhutia told PTI.

“There was not a single meeting of technical committee to discuss how many candidates have applied, who were to be shortlisted, nothing of this sort happened this time. The process was followed in the past but not this time. “If you are going to bypass the technical committee in the head coach appointment, why are we for. I said in the executive committee meeting that since the technical committee was not involved, there was no value of technical committee, then why are we for. So, I said I am resigning from technical committee membership.” Bhutia said a special committee under AIFF vice president NA Haris was dealing with the matter of finding a successor to Stimac, and he was completely against it.

“I completely opposed the constitution of the special committee. There is a technical committee already in place and how come you formed a special committee to discuss the appointment of the coach.

“The process itself is wrong. The coaches are hired, fired and given extension by executive committee without having any discussion with the technical committee. The president proposes one or two names and the executive committee agrees to one.” The other members of the AIFF technical committee include Shabir Ali, Climax Lawrence, Victor Amalraj and Santosh Singh, among others.

The AIFF said Vijayan attended the meeting via video conference.

When contacted, AIFF acting Secretary General M Satyanarayan also said Vijayan was consulted in the coach appointment process.

“There should not be any controversy here. I think technical committee chairman was consulted,” Satyanarayan said.

All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) acting secretary general M Satyanarayan on Friday said the sports body has drawn up a shortlist of 20 “competent” candidates for the job of the Indian men’s team head coach. The position was left vacant after the sacking of Igor Stimac last month, following the Indian team’s failure to reach the third round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers after losses to Qatar and Afghanistan. “We have shortlisted a few coaches, you can say around 20, and we have also written to some of them to see if, from the time they have applied to now, they are still available because lots of people are signing up,” Satyanarayan told PTI Video.

“So we are very close to shortlisting a handful and then it will go to the executive committee, tomorrow maybe, and then we also have to involve the technical community. That decision will be taken over the next two days,” the office-bearer added.

The AIFF sacked senior men’s team head coach Stimac last month, terminating his contract exactly a year before it was to expire in the wake of the side’s ouster from the second round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers despite getting a relatively easy draw.

Stimac, who was appointed as the head coach in 2019, was last October given an extension until 2026 by the sport’s apex body.

Terming his sacking “unilateral”, Stimac threatened to file a lawsuit against the national federation in the FIFA Tribunal if it failed to clear his dues within 10 days.

Satyanarayan said, “Now we must understand that the team is in a good space, we came very close to entering the third round (of World Cup Qualifiers).

“We have already finalised in October, the window whom we are playing, we are trying for September but we are not getting very good teams. But we need to finalise it, so as of now we are looking at teams that are a little lower than us, but we need to use that window.

“So let us see who the final candidates are then we will have to speak to them and then the decision will be taken, it will be an informed one.” Satyanarayan, who is serving in the post since the removal of Shaji Prabhakaran last November, refused to reveal names of the candidates who have applied for the top job.

“I cannot tell because it will not be fair because some of the coaches who have applied are still in contract and they would not want to be named.

“It is just a matter of a few days so it is not a very simple thing to do because we had many applications, we are very happy to know that a lot of big coaches are keen to come to India which means the potential is there. so lets wait,” Satyanarayan said.

The AIFF and Stimac often found themselves at loggerheads over important issues concerning the team, with the latter holding the federation’s president Kalyan Chaubey responsible for India’s failure to progress beyond the second round of the World Cup Qualifiers.

Asked about the criteria for selecting the head coach, Satyanarayan said, “Yes definitely, that is something we will zero in on, so depending on what we want and what they bring to the table, so that decision will happen, it should happen very soon.” He added, “Right now we don’t have anything up to next March so it also depends on what the coach also wants to do, maybe he has got a long-term plan so now we are at a very premature stage.

“What we have done with the ones we have got, there’s also a difference, you have club coaches, you have national team coaches. There is a difference between them because the club coaches have the players with them almost a whole year, national coaches is a little different, so all those things will be discussed.

“We have got some competent people who can do that.” The retirement of the legendary Sunil Chhetri has left a huge void in the team and it does not look like it will be filled anytime soon.

Speaking further, Satyanarayan said, “We also don’t have time because if you are looking at September, then we have got the whole of August now and we would also like to move fast because the boys have also been playing well.

“We will see, this year Durand Cup is starting, maybe some names will come up so we will see. I don’t want to say who it is but a handful of them who can fill in for him and we saw that in the last match, the boys played well without Sunil.”

It’s often said that finishing fourth in the Olympics is peak agony. If coming last carries the sting of embarrassment, securing the fourth place inflicts the pain of being so near yet so far, something that can either drive an athlete to future glory or leave them completely crushed. India’s affair with near misses at sport’s grandest stage has been a long-standing one, beginning way back in 1956. Here is a look at the instances when Indian athletes came close but ended at just that.

1956, Melbourne: Football

The Indian football team made the semifinals after beating hosts Australia 4-2 in the quarterfinals, with Neville D’Souza becoming the first Asian to score a hat-trick at the Games.

By giving his team the lead, Neville looked like doing an encore in the last-four clash against Yugoslavia. But the Yugoslavians came back strongly in the second half to seal the contest in their favour.

In the bronze medal classification match, India lost to Bulgaria 0-3, drawing to a close an eventful few days which the great P K Banerjee would often reminisce with a hint of understandable anguish.

1960, Rome: Athletics

The legendary Milkha Singh missed out on a bronze by the narrowest of margins.

Competing in the 400m final and touted as a medal contender, the ‘Flying Sikh’ fell short by a mere 1/10th of a second after slowing down to steal a glance at his fellow competitors, an error that he would regret for the rest of his life.

This would go down as his worst memory after losing his parents in the aftermath of the partition.

Milkha almost gave up the sport after this loss and it required a lot of persuasion for him to hit the track again and win two gold medals in the 1962 Asian Games.

1980, Moscow: Women’s Hockey

With top hockey nations such as the Netherlands, Australia and Great Britain boycotting the Moscow Games over the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Indian women’s hockey team had a great chance to finish on the podium in its first attempt itself.

But the team endured the agony of narrowly missing out on a medal, losing its last match to erstwhile USSR 1-3 to finish behind Zimbabwe, Czechoslovakia and the hosts.

1984, Los Angeles: Athletics

LA Olympics brought back memories of Milkha in Rome when PT Usha missed the 400m hurdles bronze by 1/100th of a second, making it the closest-ever miss for an Indian athlete in any competition.

Known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, she ended fourth behind Romania’s Christina Cojocaru, but her heroic effort left a lasting impression and she became a household name.

2004, Athens: Tennis

After a long gap of 20 years, the curse of the fourth place returned to haunt the Indian contingent when the celebrated duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi missed out on the podium at the Athens Games.

Arguably India’s greatest doubles pair in tennis, Paes and Bhupathi missed out on a bronze medal after losing a marathon match to Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 6-4 14-16 to end fourth.

Before that, the Indian pair went into the semifinals as favourites but lost to the German duo of Nicholas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler in straight sets 2-6 3-6.

At the same Games, Kunjarani Devi finished fourth in women’s 48kg weightlifting competition, but she was not really in medal contention.

Disqualified in her final attempt to lift 112.5 kg in the clean and jerk category, Kunjarani finished with a total effort of 190kg, 10kg behind bronze-medallist Thailand’s Aree Wiratthaworn.

2012, London: Shooting

Shooter Joydeep Karmakar experienced the terrible feeling of finishing a place behind the bronze medal winner in this edition.

Karmakar had finished seventh in the qualification round of men’s 50m rifle prone event, and in the finals, he ended just 1.9 points behind the bronze medal winner.

2016, Rio de Janeiro: Gymnastics

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Games. After making the final of the women’s vault event, she finished fourth overall with a score of 15.066 and missed the bronze medal by 0.150 points.

She introduced the sport to India and gave the message that one doesn’t have to be born in the USA or Russia to become an excellent gymnast.

At the same Games, Abhinav Bindra’s illustrious career was headed for a fairytale finish but a shooter of even his class was not spared of the curse of the fourth, as he missed the bronze medal by a whisker, eight years after his historic gold medal at the Beijing Games.

2020, Tokyo: Women’s Hockey

A little more than four decades after the 1980 Moscow Games, the members of the Indian women’s hockey team once again endured a similar pain at the Tokyo Olympics, missing out on the bronze.

The Indian side punched above its weight triggering an upset to knock three-time Olympic champions Australia to make the semifinal.

In the semifinals, they suffered a 0-1 defeat to Argentina but still had a shot at the bronze. They looked on course to win the elusive medal as Rani Rampal and Co. took a 3-2 lead against Great Britain.

But Britain scored twice to go up 4-3 and clinch the medal, leaving the Indian team in tears.

At the same Games, golfer Aditi Ashok also experienced the agony of missing out on a historic podium finish.

Ranked 200th in the world, the 26-year-old matched the best golfers in the world shot for shot. But, she eventually fell short after coming agonisingly close and finished fourth.

Over the past two decades the football world had gotten used to an FC Barcelona forward tormenting the defenders, scoring outrageous goals, possessing exceptional playmaking skills, and lighting up the right wing. Three years after Lionel Messi’s exit from Barca, the Catalonian club may have done the impossible, and found a perfect replacement for the Argentine legend. Lamine Yamal, the youngster whose attacking prowess seems second to none, has successfully established himself as one of the most dangerous attackers in football with his performance at the Euro 2024 tournament where he became the youngest player to ever play in a major tournament final overtaking none other than Pele.

Born and raised in Catalonia, Lamine was co-parented by his father Mounir Nasraoui, and mother Sheila Abana. The couple had gotten divorced when Yamal was just three years old. Lamine arrived at FC Barcelona at the age of seven from his local club CF La Torreta. At La Masia, he raced through the age categories quicker than any other player of his age showing the potential that he holds.

A recent photo went viral of a 20-year-old Lionel Messi posing for a photo with Lamine Yamal, who at the time was just eight months old further strengthening the belief in fans all over the world that the two players are in some way connected.

Lamine’s family had won a raffle in the town of Mataró, Catalonia. The raffle was sponsored by Diario Sport and UNICEF and offered winners the chance to have pictures taken with Barcelona players.

Lamine’s rapid rise to prominence began when he started training with Barca’s first team at just 15 years old, at the request of coach Xavi Hernandez. He made his debut for the first team in April 2023, becoming the youngest player ever to represent the club.

After an impressive 2022/23 campaign, Lamine continued with the first team for preseason in 2023/24 and became a regular presence in the squad. He set multiple records for the club, including being the youngest player to reach 50 appearances and impressive goal-scoring and assisting tallies in various competitions.

Despite his young age, Lamine has already shown immense promise and is expected to be a key player for FC Barcelona in the years to come.

In just a matter of one single season, Lamal has grown accustomed to having his name in the record books. The 17-year-old is the youngest player to represent FC Barcelona at 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days and scored seven goals in 50 appearances in the 2023/24 season.

He then went on to make his mark outside of La Liga at the 2024 European Championship where he ended the campaign as the Young Player of the Tournament having one goal and four assists to his name.

The whole world now knows the name of Lamine Yamal and will tune into Barcelona games to watch the young phenom play from the 2024/25 season.

File photo of Joshua Zirkzee.© AFP

Spain are “deserved” favourites for Sunday’s Euro 2024 final and even if England do pull off a surprise victory English bookmakers are willing to take the financial hit as for one at least it is “only money lent”. Indeed it might be one occasion where the bookmakers allow their hearts to rule their heads and enjoy losing money. Even though English punters have weighed in since Gareth Southgate’s side beat the Dutch at the death in their semi-final, Spain remain odds-on favourites for a record fourth European crown in Berlin.

“I take the view I can’t lose, if England win, the fan in me is happy, if Spain win, the Coral man in me is satisfied,” David Stevens, head of public relations at Coral, told AFP.

“If it is the former, it’s only money lent.

“Spain have been the standout team in this Euros, and they are deserved favourites for Sunday’s match.

“But that will not prevent those many patriotic punters getting stuck into the Three Lions, and England will be big losers come kick-off.”

William Woodhams, CEO of the world’s oldest bookmakers Fitzdares, largely concurs with his rival.

“Heart always wins,” he told AFP.

“One result isn’t going to kill the business and a bit of a feelgood factor among punters never hurts.”

Indeed Woodhams also has a personal interest in England winning their first major trophy since Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup trophy 58 years ago.

“My son drew England in the nursery school sweepstake — so I’m so competitive I want to win the £50 ($65)!”

‘Rioja in the cellar’

Stevens said turnover has been ticking along nicely during the tournament though at the expense of other usually reliable money spinners.

“Football betting is a growth area, and the timing of this summer’s matches has been perfect for a UK audience,” he said.

“So we’ve no complaints about the turnover, albeit it does take away from other events, with Royal Ascot turnover hit slightly last month.”

The urbane Woodhams, who is far from one’s archetypal image of a bookmaker’s CEO having spent six years with luxury goods firm LVMH, says in contrast a largely dull tournament had had an impact.

“Turnover is definitely comparable to the World Cup but not on a par with either Cheltenham or Royal Ascot,” he said.

“It’s been quite a slow tournament and the amount of draws has left a lot of punters without much in their kitty.”

Stevens says England’s “dreary performances will be forgotten” should they win, though, many of his firm’s punters evidently believe they will once again leave fans’ nerves jangling.

King Charles III has tried to help their nerves, as he took to social media earlier this week to joke that England should avoid more last-minute drama.

“England to win on penalties has shortened from 9-1 to 13-2, which tells me plenty of England fans are expecting another nail-biter!” said Stevens.

Woodhams says one of their clients is obviously like the always pessimistic donkey Eeyore in the Winnie The Pooh books.

“Someone had a massive bet on England not to win at big odds-on,” he said.

“Presume they’re keeping the Rioja in the cellar for the time being.”

As for whether they would be happy if England were then to wait another 58 years for their next title, both became dewy-eyed patriots again.

“They’ve not won a World Cup in my lifetime so maybe a two year wait would be nice,” said Stevens.

He was the golden boy of the 2014 World Cup but after a decade of disappointment at club level and at the age of 33, James Rodriguez is back and starring again on the international stage. The Colombian ‘number ten’ has been fundamental to his team’s run to the final of the Copa America where ‘Los Cafeteros’ will face world champions Argentina for the title. Ten years ago in Brazil, Rodriguez scored six goals in Colombia’s run to the quarter-finals of the World Cup including a stunning volley on the turn against Uruguay which won FIFA’s Puskas Award for goal of the year.

Such was Rodriguez’s impact on the tournament that when Lionel Messi was handed the Golden Ball for the World Cup’s best player, his fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona said that the prize should have gone to Rodriguez.

The midfielder’s displays earned him a lucrative move to Spanish giants Real Madrid for a fee reported to be around 80 million euros, at the time the fourth most expensive transfer in the world.

He was handed Real’s famous number ten shirt and presented as the club’s next great star but he was unable to live up to those high expectations and his club career, which showed such promise with Porto and Monaco, has never truly recovered.

He was loaned to Bayern Munich and by 2020 he had moved to English club Everton on a free transfer before finding himself at Qatari club Al-Rayyan with Greece’s Olympiacos and then last year Brazil’s Sao Paulo, as a promising career lost its way.

This season in Brazil, Rodriguez has made just eight appearances for the club but none of that club form appeared to worry Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo.

The Argentine had seen enough from Rodriguez in the national team shirt to give him a central role at the Copa and he has been rewarded by performances that have defied his decline at club level.

“Since I took over the national team, I followed him and whenever he played (for his clubs) he did interesting things but we needed him to play,” said Lorenzo.

Rodriguez has rewarded Lorenzo with a tournament record six assists and a goal and performances that have brought the best out of the team’s attacking talents.

“The chance for a great player to play and get minutes gives him the opportunity to show what he can do. If he plays less, he is going to have less chance,” added Lorenzo.

What is key is that Rodriguez is allowed with Colombia to play in his preferred role, floating behind the strikers, dictating play, opening up the defence with clever passing constantly searching for an opening.

He is a classic ‘number ten’, a role that has gone out of fashion in many clubs and leagues, but one which Lorenzo appears to understand is essential to getting the best out of Rodriguez.

Certainly his team-mates are appreciative of the ‘second wind’ in his career.

Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, whose electric pace poses one of the biggest threats to Argentina on Sunday, talks of his team-mate in the language of a fan.

“He has always been my idol along with (Radamel) Falcao and (Juan Guillermo) Cuadrado, who I used to watch on television when I was a kid. I keep telling James: ‘You’re a superstar! I admire you a lot and you deserve it,'” the winger told DirecTV.

Diaz also made sure the fans were well aware of his appreciation when Rodriguez scored from the penalty spot in the 5-0 quarter-final crushing of Panama. Diaz ran over to his team-mate and gestured the placing of a crown on his head.

“He deserves it, this is his Copa, no doubt… We know what he has been through, what he has suffered. Football is for moments like this and it provided him a rematch,” he said.

While Argentina are looking for their third straight major title at the Hard Rock Stadium and a record setting 16th Copa America, for Colombia and Rodriguez this is a chance for just their second title after their 2001 Copa.

Rodriguez hasn’t elaborated on the contrast between his club and country form but perhaps the desire to provide his football-mad country with a rare piece of silverware is explanation enough.

“When I play for Colombia I try to help my team-mates. Everyone knows that I give everything for this shirt,” he said.

Virat Kohli is arguably the most popular cricketer on the planet, and is loved by a billion people in his own country. He even boasts 270 million followers on Instagram. However, one man who does not recognize him is legendary Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Filming a video with YouTube content creator ‘IShowSpeed’, Ibrahimovic could not recognize Virat Kohli, and admitted that he had not heard of him before either. Speed then referred to Kohli as the ‘GOAT’ (Greatest Of All Time) of cricket.

At first, Speed (real name Darren Jason Watkins Jr.) asked Ibrahimovic if he knew Virat Kohli. Hearing a no from Ibrahimovic, Speed proceeded to show him a picture of Kohli. However, much to Speed’s surprise, Ibrahimovic failed to recognize him.

“No. I’ve never seen cricket in my life. Not being disrespectful, but no,” said Ibrahimovic, when Speed showed him Kohli’s picture.

“Is he some kind of big player?” asked Ibrahimovic.

Watch: Zlatan Ibrahimovic fails to recognize Virat Kohli

| WATCH: Speed asks Zlatan Ibrahimovic if he knows Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/qd5t5w8ZJp

— Speedy HQ (@iShowSpeedHQ) July 9, 2024

“He’s the GOAT,” replies Speed. “He is the GOAT in a different aspect, man. You’ve got to learn the different GOATs in different aspects,” continued the 19-year-old YouTube sensation.

It is not a surprise that Ibrahimovic may not know Kohli, as cricket is not a widely-played sport in Sweden. The country ranks 55th in ICC’s T20I team rankings.

Ibrahimovic – who ranks 15th in the list of most goals scored in football history (561) – retired from football at the age of 41 last year. His last club was Italian giants AC Milan.

American YouTuber Speed, on the other hand, boasts more than 26 million subscribers on YouTube, and is popular for his love for Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Speed is also a fan of Virat Kohli, and recently went to watch India vs Pakistan during the 2024 T20 World Cup at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Virgil van Dijk in an interaction with the referee during Netherlands vs England Euro 2024 semi-final.© AFP

“Better late than never” said England talisman Jude Bellingham, on his latest Instagram post, after his team’s dramatic win over the Netherlands in the second Euro 2024 semi-final. Ollie Watkins scored a superb last-minute goal, to send the Dutch packing, and keep the dream of ‘bringing it home’ alive. Away from the goals and the celebrations, a certain teenager in the middle of the park is slyly running away with the headlines. Teenage sensation Kobbie Mainoo has had a tremendous campaign at the base of midfield, carrying on from his terrific season with Manchester United.

England will face Spain in the final on Sunday. Both sides, on paper are incredibly well-rounded, with a wealth of experience and quality. But for both sides, the biggest talking points of the tournament have been their teenage superstars.

Soon to be 17-year-old livewire Lamine Yamal took the breathe away from millions watching the game, scoring an absolute scorcher in the semis against France. The Barcelona winger has been outstanding all throughout the tournament, becoming the youngest goalscorer ever in the semi finals of a major tournament. Yamal has racked up 4 goal involvements in the campaign so far, making a strong case for being named Player of the Tournament if Spain are to win Euro 2024.

Although Mainoo doesn’t fill the statsheet in the obvious ways, his impact on the team has arguably been as much as Yamal’s. The 19-year-old has completed more than 95% of his passes with a staggering dribble percentage of 98%. Incredibly composed on the ball, playing line-breaking passes and dribbling out of trouble, Mainoo has provided the England midfield a brand new dimension. In the semi final, Mainoo played more of a reserved role at the base of the midfield, winning 100% of his duels and tackles. Mainoo’s skillset has enabled Declan Rice to be more expansive with his game, bombing forward at every opportunity possible.

After a disappointing Finals loss in the last Euros, England will be determined to put in a big shift in Berlin. But on the other side, they face Spain, who have arguably been the best team to watch so far. And as mentioned above, all eyes will be on the battle of the teens, as Lamine Yamal and Kobbie Mainoo go head-to-head, vying to win their respective nations the big prize.