Indian football coach Savio Medeira showered praise on skipper Baichung Bhutia, who donned the national colours for one last time in yesterday's 0-4 loss to Bayern Munich in an international friendly here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.


Bayern Munich skipper Philipp Lahm presents a team jersey to India
skipper Baichung Bhutia at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi
yesterday. Pic/ Rajeev Tyagi

Medeira said youth must take a leaf out of Bhutia's book and aspire to be like him. "The most special thing about Baichung is that he is still as committed as he was 16 years ago. Players nowadays aren't as committed.

If young players can be as committed and disciplined as he has been throughout his career, we might be able to produce more players like him," said Medeira at the post-match conference. He however went on to criticise his team for being in awe of their illustrious opponents from Germany.

"We were better in the second half. The boys were not playing upto the mark in the first half. I think the big names in the opposition had something to do with that. But we played with confidence after the break," he said.

Bayern's Dutch ace Arjen Robben meanwhile, was impressed with the Indian team, who worked their socks off to try and concede as few as possible. "The Indian team are physically good. They have got strength and speed. They made a good impression. Hopefully Indian football will develop," said Robben.

Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes was not as considerate while judging the Indians. "Their (India's) level of football is not similar to ours. But it still is a test. We could have scored a few more but I'm happy with the scoreline,"
he said.