Igor Stimach is on right track. He should continue

The National coach Igor Stimac said there are not enough players with requisite technical ability to make the senior national team competitive enough.

Igor Stimac , ( Croatian ) Football National coach not only has very nicely diagnosed the weakness of the Indian Football team but also made it public with great honesty. The first foreign coach I have noticed.

Though he is on right track to do better and better with Indian team and giving chances to the youngsters. I personally wish he should continue to be with the team even longer than his present contract. Stimac said there are not enough players with requisite technical ability to make the senior national team competitive enough.

Enough players means number of players – and technical ability means, the basics. Imagine National Players lack basics ,which should have been taught at early age . Better draw a lesson from ongoing EURO cup. Italian Coach Roberto Mancini made eight changes to rest most of his first choice starters, and still qualified for knockout stage matches.

He further said, as a national team we suffer all the weakness that are apparent in the country’s top League the ISL. This happens when most of the important positions are occupied by foreign players .This definitely limits the choice when we go to select the Indian team.

I too had pointed out about the foreign players participation in our top league. Perhaps the massage did not reach anywhere, considering I, being an Indian coach.

If there is any obligation to have foreign players, have the players from our own SAF region, they will cost less and football will develop in the Region not only in India. Recently decision taken by the authorities to have only four foreign players on the field is welcome decision, but I do not know, if still we can reduce to three or two.

Our former AFFI President late Sh. PR Das Munshi ji had a very good idea, to have a tournament of eight best club ( four of both country Bangladesh and India ). On rotation basis being the venue. . I personally think could have served the purpose better, when particularly, in India there are no tournaments like earlier where a good number of players use to show their worth and get necessary competitive type of training.

FIFA’s expert researchers have suggested, if the player is to be competitive in any good standard of football ( club level ) a player on an average must have minimum of ten years of experience, with thousand hours of yearly practice. Igore has pointed out our National League held for short time, there are not enough participation of National team for the point of view of training . we participate only in competition.

The responsibility of the National team’s performance lies with AIFF. No doubt. But the basics and techniques as Stimic pointed out are not to be developed with the national team.

Coaching of a National team, coaching club teams in Leagues , and coaching the player in their young age, the objective and methodic of coaching are – all together different . Coaching National team is not to develop the basics, but make best possible utility of the player’s ability what they possess . Developing basics – is longer process starts early , in childhood, where either states or “SAI’ authority are responsible.

The elementary characteristics which makes a ordinary player a super star can best be started in early childhood, and if not it will be late and players will remain short of such basics, which Coach Stimic pointed out. This is the science coaches talk and need. For rest of the other sciences coaches can be excused for not knowing.

All schemes introduced by SAI . flopped and failed to produce result in football , in rest of the game , I do not want to comment. 90% of the players admitted in schemes- hostels drop out without having participating even school level. No body monitors.

Govt. of India is largely responsible, for dividing the sports into priority and non priority games. The best performance of SAI after merger with NIS.

Football the game played by masses and is enjoyed most by the youth but it is in non priority sports, perhaps only in India. Very sad commentary when we lose to Afghanistan.

Assessing and assuming the future scope of football in India , with lot of mental agony and frustration , I had to opt for VRS, and join in Bangladesh.

Now a days ,I have seen personally nobody comes to play football in any field like earlier crowd. Which in fact is the single most reason for declining football standard. Coaches on the other hand are not seen playing with the boys, simply for the reason, they say what to do football is not priority game , and players are not coming, as it is there is no chance, why to work. What a psychology ( negative ) . We only teach in classes, but do not follow practically in the field.

Coaches , I am sorry for being my own professional colleagues the moment not only poor, but very poor. They are forced to remain poor, by the people those who have to be another side of the bed.

Nobody wants to join profession, since they do not expect to be seen even coaching club teams. No driving force for them to be good. Sports psychology is not to be taught in class rooms, ( where teacher enjoy best and students sleep ) but to work on the field.

It takes ten years to be a good player, but it takes 20 years to be a coach worthy of being called good Coach . Indian Coaches basically are very good, and intelligent, but circumstantially forced to remain poor.

Let me think enough, to write more about this. I mean those who have not entered in the field in their life are dictating the terms and preparing the curriculum . Coaches are poor fellows.

Indian players genetically are very good, but lack qualitative training in early age have. Though not the issue here , but let me say, there are many outstanding players, in the world played football first, but when not got the chance even to be a club player shifted to another sports and became world’s best players in other game in different country. In India, Leander Pace , Sorav Ganguly, Mahindeer singh Dhoni played football in their early life. However, this is not a theory, but a common observation.

As . I said, football is mass based, had a big population played football , perhaps, the Covid – 19 tragedy could have been reduced to minimum , much lesser than we faced.

Suggestions:

Sports is to be for health, and not for medals, is to be the philosophy of the nation.

Winning can be the priority of the coaches .

In fact sports for all schemes exists only on paper rather major share of the budget goes to the Olympic Podium Scheme. Has to be otherwise, there will be over flow of Olympians and medals.