India, Sept. 12 -- "Do you know what he has done to Bhaichung," Subhas Bhowmick barked. Jolted by his call early in the morning after a night shift at work, I mumbled (maybe even grumbled) that I had no idea. Turned out that Bhutia had done his knee in while playing for India in the 2004 LG Cup.

Reports had it that Bhutia had aggravated the injury sustained in training ahead of the first match. Stephen Constantine - the "he" in Bhowmick's rhetorical question - had rested Bhutia in the opening match but played him against a Vietnam XI. He shouldn't have, East Bengal head coach Bhowmick bristled. It is another matter that the injury caused Bhutia to miss a home World Cup qualifier against Japan, ironically a match for which Constantine had...