How to end India’s goal drought? AIFF president recommends crash course in finishing

Kalyan Chaubey, president of the All Indian Football Federation, has a solution to the national men's team's goal-scoring woes. He has recommended a crash course in finishing for India's misfiring strikers conducted by a world-class striker.

"We are trying to get a top striker or a top-10 striker in the world. We will take 4 or 5 Under-23 strikers and give them a few days crash course in finishing," Chaubey said, with a straight face. He claimed that the young strikers who receive training from the world-class finisher will help India at the Asian Games and "will play for the next 10 years."

Chaubey's response comes in the wake of India's poor performances in recent years, which show no sign of improvement. India have scored just 7 goals in the last 15 matches since January 2024, including three friendlies. India failed to score in the most recent three outings, including the two AFC Asian Cup third-round qualifiers, the last of which ended in a 0-1 defeat to Hong Kong in Kowloon.

In mid-March, veteran striker Sunil Chhetri came out of retirement to score in a 3-0 friendly win over Maldives, ending India's 15-month winless run. But even the talisman couldn't hit the target in the last three for Manolo Marquez.

"It is very difficult for a player who has played a supporting role in the club (Bengaluru FC) to play as a number 9 role in just three days," Chaubey said about Chhetri. "Our main focus areas is the lack of goals and the shortage of strikers. Anyone in Indian football will agree that is our major problem."

Meanwhile, Chaubey added that the AIFF executive committee meeting on June 29 will take a call on the future of Marquez as India's head coach.