"Our youngsters are not having basics right. Not having three four consecutive forward passes or even square passes. Somehow it never happened. Do not know genetics or not but I feel its Indian habit. In our domestic league our players enjoy tremendous amount of time which is way behind than international standard. No of touches taken, turning all are slow....Blame it on ISL or coaches, its our footballers who need to pull their socks up literally."
These words of @dhritiman7 reminded of Moti Nandi's story "Dolbodoler Age" where the Czech coach Novacheck, an alias of our former NT coach Ciric Milovan, utters these words (my translation in IFN):
Novacheck told me one day at the camp, “Sam, he doesn’t call me Samiran, is football played in your country? What sort of football is played? One can understand the lack of health, speed, stamina. But what about the basic skills? They cannot receive passes, their shooting power is zero, and they do not know when to release the ball. They are very poor in air; they have no sense of positioning. There is no provision for learning at the school level. Unlearned, unskilled players with poor health come to club football at an advanced age. Even there, they get no opportunity for improvement. With this poor health, they play continuously throughout the year so much so that they remain tired and have no desire left to improve their skills. Then, when they come to play at the international level, the quality of football that they play is evident in the results.'
So prophetic!! Uttered almost 30 years ago but still strikes a chord in the heart of each and every football-lover in India. Some things never change.
I did not want to drag the conversation as already this thread's purpose is already over. So jotting down my thoughts on bullet points - 1. There is difference between how cricket world and football word works. I mean modus operandi is different. Cricket is more like between cricket councils and more nation to nation competition whereas football is more between clubs. Actually its cricket who adopted football while introducing IPL. 2. There is no harm having elite academies by federation.But at the same time, it will create a group and will never be able to pick talents from every corner of this huge country. Yes cricket council can as the structure is different there. You play in ward, then district, state, nation. In between lucky few makes IPL and bag money. 3. In football you need to get a club, you just cant play in Santosh Trophy and India. Or else declare yourself an armature and find a job in sports quota. 4. AIFF failed in many aspects but its our clubs who failed us miserably. Mohunbagan started SAIL- Durgapur academy long back but I do not know it is functional or not. 5. How many clubs have their own match and practice grounds? Everything cant be on Govt or federation. I did not hear any news that Kolkata big clubs going to but some land to build their own stadiums. Probably we will not hear in our life times. Fans will be happy forever to cherish culture, derby and cook hilsa and prawn ! (I used to go to tents to follow U-19 teams but I have given up. Ruidas, Prahlad Roy, Azhar all were good but never bothered to work hard like Sunil Chettri or Bhaichung. I have seen personally Sunil Chettri practicing all alone even after Subrata Bhattcharya declared end of season back in 2003. Rishi Kapoor the left back who arrived along with him from Hindustan club, Delhi used to wait frustratingly. Where is the dedication from Thatal or Sk Sahal? Busy with instagram) 6. Supply Chain or pool of talent depends upon nurturing young talents by clubs. There is no great attempt by any club so far. 7. We have started baby league and youth league just now. So obviously you need to wait for 15 years from now if they do not opt for any other profession in between 8. It was clearly visible from ATK Mohunbagan's attitude that they were not interested for ACL. Supporters are happy because they have defeated their arch rivals. Our attitude needs to change. 9. Before J League, Japan's football was entirely on Universities. Where is our university leagues? If someone is good at study he / she can show talent in this league. 10. AIFF started thinking professionally once Bob Houghton arrived and afterwards all are more or less yes man. So do not expect AIFF is going to do anything special. Where is review of "Lakshya"? 11. Only thing AIFF can adopt from BCCI is economical independence but that is difficult with FSDL tie ups.
I took cricket as an example to explain what it takes to go from ordinary to top of that sport. But since Cricket is something we have all seen through our eyes how we improved i gave it as an example. Every one knows - grassroot, development, clubs, better coaches, more competition etc, but there is more to develop quality/elite footballers. Just so you know - please read this attached link - read researc based articles to get into the details of any sport, what is different in this article (compared to what ever has been said here) is what makes the difference, to move up in ladder of football ranking. And it takes time to put in place everything and start producing results. Please do not reply back saying - some long lengthy vague statements. I can point you to many more similar articles ... but that is not my job.
Even if one accepts that Indian football cannot move on until AIFF and the clubs decide to modernize themselves, Stimac could at least, as a self-respecting coach, have resigned and moved on if he had found himself as a puppet of the football authorities. A Pep or a Mourinho could at least have taken the step, but no such thing for Stimac...the perks are too tempting!
Who do you guys think is the worst coach of NT that India ever had? My pick would be Vim Koevermans as the worst coach India ever had, followed closely by Stimac! The best coach as per me wS Armando Colaco in his brief tenure followed by Bob Haughton. Had AIFF let bob continue post asian cup 2011, India would be in a much better position.
"The best coach as per me waS Armando Colaco in his brief tenure followed by Bob Haughton. Had AIFF let bob continue post asian cup 2011, India would be in a much better position."
@Chelseafan: The best coach perhaps as long as many of us have been following football.
However, the best coach ever in the history of Indian NT was perhaps Syed Abdul Rahim, popularly known as Rahim Sahib...the results of our NT during his time are evident of his success. For an illuminating view about his ideas and visions, and a interview he gave to the Indian Express in 1955 which is still very relevant, see this Scroll.in article:
The second-best coach of the Indian NT, and arguably the best foreign coach of our NT, is Milovan Ciric (Houghton would come a close second, I guess). You can read an analysis of three of our coaches--Rahim Sahib, Milovan and P.K. Banerjee by @dhritiman7 in the IFN blog here:
Comments
These words of @dhritiman7 reminded of Moti Nandi's story "Dolbodoler Age" where the Czech coach Novacheck, an alias of our former NT coach Ciric Milovan, utters these words (my translation in IFN):
Novacheck told me one day at the camp, “Sam, he doesn’t call me Samiran, is football played in your country? What sort of football is played? One can understand the lack of health, speed, stamina. But what about the basic skills? They cannot receive passes, their shooting power is zero, and they do not know when to release the ball. They are very poor in air; they have no sense of positioning. There is no provision for learning at the school level. Unlearned, unskilled players with poor health come to club football at an advanced age. Even there, they get no opportunity for improvement. With this poor health, they play continuously throughout the year so much so that they remain tired and have no desire left to improve their skills. Then, when they come to play at the international level, the quality of football that they play is evident in the results.'
So prophetic!! Uttered almost 30 years ago but still strikes a chord in the heart of each and every football-lover in India. Some things never change.
1. There is difference between how cricket world and football word works. I mean modus operandi is different. Cricket is more like between cricket councils and more nation to nation competition whereas football is more between clubs. Actually its cricket who adopted football while introducing IPL.
2. There is no harm having elite academies by federation.But at the same time, it will create a group and will never be able to pick talents from every corner of this huge country. Yes cricket council can as the structure is different there. You play in ward, then district, state, nation. In between lucky few makes IPL and bag money.
3. In football you need to get a club, you just cant play in Santosh Trophy and India. Or else declare yourself an armature and find a job in sports quota.
4. AIFF failed in many aspects but its our clubs who failed us miserably. Mohunbagan started SAIL- Durgapur academy long back but I do not know it is functional or not.
5. How many clubs have their own match and practice grounds? Everything cant be on Govt or federation. I did not hear any news that Kolkata big clubs going to but some land to build their own stadiums. Probably we will not hear in our life times. Fans will be happy forever to cherish culture, derby and cook hilsa and prawn ! (I used to go to tents to follow U-19 teams but I have given up. Ruidas, Prahlad Roy, Azhar all were good but never bothered to work hard like Sunil Chettri or Bhaichung. I have seen personally Sunil Chettri practicing all alone even after Subrata Bhattcharya declared end of season back in 2003. Rishi Kapoor the left back who arrived along with him from Hindustan club, Delhi used to wait frustratingly. Where is the dedication from Thatal or Sk Sahal? Busy with instagram)
6. Supply Chain or pool of talent depends upon nurturing young talents by clubs. There is no great attempt by any club so far.
7. We have started baby league and youth league just now. So obviously you need to wait for 15 years from now if they do not opt for any other profession in between
8. It was clearly visible from ATK Mohunbagan's attitude that they were not interested for ACL. Supporters are happy because they have defeated their arch rivals. Our attitude needs to change.
9. Before J League, Japan's football was entirely on Universities. Where is our university leagues? If someone is good at study he / she can show talent in this league.
10. AIFF started thinking professionally once Bob Houghton arrived and afterwards all are more or less yes man. So do not expect AIFF is going to do anything special. Where is review of "Lakshya"?
11. Only thing AIFF can adopt from BCCI is economical independence but that is difficult with FSDL tie ups.
I took cricket as an example to explain what it takes to go from ordinary to top of that sport. But since Cricket is something we have all seen through our eyes how we improved i gave it as an example.
Every one knows - grassroot, development, clubs, better coaches, more competition etc, but there is more to develop quality/elite footballers. Just so you know - please read this attached link - read researc based articles to get into the details of any sport, what is different in this article (compared to what ever has been said here) is what makes the difference, to move up in ladder of football ranking. And it takes time to put in place everything and start producing results. Please do not reply back saying - some long lengthy vague statements. I can point you to many more similar articles ... but that is not my job.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Soccer-t.html
And please try to use the "quote" option as sparingly as possible. As I said before, the posts get unnecessarily lengthened because of this.
Thanks!!
- Igor Stimac
Man just compared himself with Guardiola and Mourinho lmaooo
Even if one accepts that Indian football cannot move on until AIFF and the clubs decide to modernize themselves, Stimac could at least, as a self-respecting coach, have resigned and moved on if he had found himself as a puppet of the football authorities. A Pep or a Mourinho could at least have taken the step, but no such thing for Stimac...the perks are too tempting!
The best coach as per me wS Armando Colaco in his brief tenure followed by Bob Haughton. Had AIFF let bob continue post asian cup 2011, India would be in a much better position.
@Chelseafan: The best coach perhaps as long as many of us have been following football.
However, the best coach ever in the history of Indian NT was perhaps Syed Abdul Rahim, popularly known as Rahim Sahib...the results of our NT during his time are evident of his success. For an illuminating view about his ideas and visions, and a interview he gave to the Indian Express in 1955 which is still very relevant, see this Scroll.in article:
https://scroll.in/field/959400/indian-football-visionary-coach-and-master-tactician-syed-abdul-rahims-genius-stands-test-of-time
The second-best coach of the Indian NT, and arguably the best foreign coach of our NT, is Milovan Ciric (Houghton would come a close second, I guess). You can read an analysis of three of our coaches--Rahim Sahib, Milovan and P.K. Banerjee by @dhritiman7 in the IFN blog here:
https://www.indianfootballnetwork.com/blog/2014/05/11/indian-football-a-tale-of-three-inspiring-coaches/