Why is India not at the World Cup? (excerpt)
It wasn't always like this. Playing barefoot with reasonable ball skills, India actually qualified for the World Cup in Brazil in 1950 - the only time it has done so. But lack of foreign exchange, the prospects of a long sea journey and an insistence on playing barefoot meant that the team never made it to Brazil. India even picked up the gold in football in the first Asian Games in 1951, beating a suitably booted Iran by a solitary goal. In 1956, after having put on its boots, India reached the semi-final in Olympics football, the first Asian country to do so. It stood fourth in the tournament. In 1962, India again picked up the football gold in the Asian Games. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/06/why_is_india_a_football_laggard.html ++++++++++++ venantius j pinto
