New India Coach - Savio Medeira
Arsenalkid700
7 Points
Savio Medeira appointed Indian football coach
Margao: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has promoted Savio Medeira as the coach of Indian team until the expiry of his contract in May 2012.
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das, after consultation with executive committee members on Thursday, decided to hand over the formal letter to Medeira, who has been working as deputy to former coaches Bob Houghton and Armando Colaco for the past three years.
The post had fallen vacant after interim coach Armando Colaco rejected the AIFF's offer to extend his contract by one year.
AIFF had tried to rope in Salgaocar Sports Club coach Karim Bencherifa for the top post but he too refused citing club commitments.
"Its a great honour to be India's coach. But at the same time, it's a huge responsibility as well," the 46-year-old Medeira told PTI.
Asked whether he will continue with the same supporting staff and preparatory camps, the former India mid-fielder said he will meet Das on Monday in Delhi to sort out the things.
"I have asked Marcus Pacheco (the current goalkeeping coach) to be the assistant coach besides looking after goalkeeping. The supporting staff will remain the same," he added.
Medeira said his immediate concern was the three upcoming international friendlies, against Malaysia on November 13 and 16 at Assam and Kolkata respectively, and against Zambia on November 29 at Goa.
"Given the tight schedule of the I-League, we are expected to have a one-day camp prior to our first friendly. I hope we do well," he said.
The biggest challenge though would be the SAFF Cup when India defend their title - which they won with a reserve side in Bangladesh - at home in December, he added.
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I am not sure how to feel about this. He is a great assistant coach and had a good start as a full time coach but towards the end of his coaching tenure at Salgaocar he was really shit. Relegation twice but we will see.
His wiki: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savio_Medeira"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savio_Medeira</a><!-- m -->" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Margao: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has promoted Savio Medeira as the coach of Indian team until the expiry of his contract in May 2012.
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das, after consultation with executive committee members on Thursday, decided to hand over the formal letter to Medeira, who has been working as deputy to former coaches Bob Houghton and Armando Colaco for the past three years.
The post had fallen vacant after interim coach Armando Colaco rejected the AIFF's offer to extend his contract by one year.
AIFF had tried to rope in Salgaocar Sports Club coach Karim Bencherifa for the top post but he too refused citing club commitments.
"Its a great honour to be India's coach. But at the same time, it's a huge responsibility as well," the 46-year-old Medeira told PTI.
Asked whether he will continue with the same supporting staff and preparatory camps, the former India mid-fielder said he will meet Das on Monday in Delhi to sort out the things.
"I have asked Marcus Pacheco (the current goalkeeping coach) to be the assistant coach besides looking after goalkeeping. The supporting staff will remain the same," he added.
Medeira said his immediate concern was the three upcoming international friendlies, against Malaysia on November 13 and 16 at Assam and Kolkata respectively, and against Zambia on November 29 at Goa.
"Given the tight schedule of the I-League, we are expected to have a one-day camp prior to our first friendly. I hope we do well," he said.
The biggest challenge though would be the SAFF Cup when India defend their title - which they won with a reserve side in Bangladesh - at home in December, he added.
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I am not sure how to feel about this. He is a great assistant coach and had a good start as a full time coach but towards the end of his coaching tenure at Salgaocar he was really shit. Relegation twice but we will see.
His wiki: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savio_Medeira"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savio_Medeira</a><!-- m -->" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Comments
Indian national team coach Savio Medeira has played down any talks of being crestfallen in case India fail to live up to their expectations in the SAFF Championship. They kick start the tournament against Afghanistan on Saturday but Medeira claims that retaining the championship title would be a lot harder than previous editions. He was also quick to reiterate that any failures should be treated as mishaps because they lack in preparation for the tournament.
“No, I don’t think so. We could not prepare well enough,” the Goan said when asked if anything less than defending the title would be a disappointment.
“But I don’t think we cannot win the tournament. We can, the boys are giving their best. It will depend a lot on the given day, the opposition. If we don’t perform on the given day, I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Medeira said.
India were so long accustomed to using the long ball tactic under Bob Houghton and during the short spell of Armando Colaco, he tried inserting a more possession-based style into India. But as far as Savio Medeira is concerned, he believes in combining both those styles to create a perfect balance.
“Top clubs like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid use both possession football and long ball. Many say FC Barcelona play only passing football but you can see they also use long balls. So we are trying to use both,” Medeira said.
Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpeklhua joined back the team today and Medeira whom expressed his displeasure at the trial stint for Sunil and Jeje, was definitely not happy at receiving them back just a day before the SAFF Championship kicks off.
“Ideally, you wouldn’t want your two key players to join the team just a day before a tournament. But there was no other way out. I have to accept this. May be in future, things like this (trial) should be planned in such a way that it does not clash with preparations of a tournament,” he said.
He may have felt instantly foolish to have to remind the gathered media on when and how he did it first, but Medeira was rightfully claiming his piece of the trophy.
On Sunday, few remembered Medeira as the quiet, assured midfielder alongside the equally silent Tushar Rakshit in a 1997 tournament in Kathmandu that was drowned in the clamor of a petulant Nayeemuddin-Bhutia spat; on Sunday, not many noticed a calm and bespectacled gent by the Indian bench as his 'unprepared' team managed to silence a few sceptics.
"True, the game's standard today is greater than 14 years ago, both tactically and fitness-wise, but that team had more talent," Mederia told TOI on Monday, as he prepared for life after SAFF success. Facile or far-reaching, this sub-continental meet that India never fails to make heavy weather of, forever hangs in balance.
"The AFC Challenge in March next year is clearly the more important task," he says. "Like my players who join their clubs without rest, my work too starts right away. I'll be watching I-League games, hoping to find some new talent."
Medeira's proposed camp is from mid-February, after good dozen rounds of the I-League. Since time is at a premium, while he has no plans to change the shape of his side, Mediera hopes he will chance upon a left-footed defender who can ease the pressure on Syed Rahim Nabi. "Nabi's a fantastic player, so good that he can play anywhere. That's precisely why we need a back-up for his kind," says Mediera.
The 46-year-old Medeira's journey from player to coach has been shorn of the spotlight. In the now-customary bleakness of Indian football, this comes with the job. It is the same philosophy that Medeira takes to work each day as national coach - remind him that he is but merely an ad-hoc appointment and Medeira nods knowingly. "Till such time, allow me to do my job professionally," he says.
Maybe it helps him to stay away from the glare. For a coach whose eight-year managerial stint at Salgaocar is chiefly remembered for the club's back-to-back drops from India's premier football league, appointment then as national coach was always going to controversial. It was with this baggage that he was appointed assistant to Bob Houghton in 2008.
He is quick too to acknowledge to his mixed success at Salgaocar - he doesn't point out that they were once National League runners up, in 2002-03. He's quicker to recognise the over-arching influence of Houghton, the man he succeeded in the current national side, but is firm to point out that he is his own man. "Yes, there is a lot of Houghton's effects in the team and while we borrow from a lot of influences, each coach has his own way and own system and in time, that begins to reflect as well."
But with Medeira, will time tell?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/My-work-starts-now-says-Savio-Medeira/articleshow/11087387.cms
:-q
Oh god and just when we went from 162 to 154 in FIFA. 180 here we come.
Savio feels that the AIFF is allowing to many foreigners in the I-League and therefore hampering the chances of young Indian strikers to play regular club football. “I am not happy with the policy that our FA has adopted regarding foreign strikers in the team,” a frustrated Savio told the media. “I think the clubs in India should just be allowed to hire one foreign striker. We have problems to find good strikers back home in India.” “All I-League clubs have two foreign strikers in the team. We don’t get good strikers, if this continues in India,” Savio stronhly oppined. Talking about India’s 0-2 defeat to the Philippines, Savio said: “We started well, even after we conceded the goal. We didn’t do what we had planned and expected. The strikers didn’t do their job.” “This is a young side. We are building this team and to build a good side… It takes time,” Savio continued. While asked about Sunil Chhetri’s performance in today’s match Savio stated: “Chhetri is recovering from the injury that he sustained in the SAFF Championship last year. He isn’t still match fit.” “We will try to play good game against DPR Korea,” Savio concluded, while looking forward to the final Group B match on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Philippines’ German coach Michael Weiss was not completly satisfied with the performance of his side. “I was not happy with the boys performance in the first half. But the boys played a much better game in the second half. We had made two changes with Rob Gier in the defense line and had brought two holding midfielders in the form of Guirardo and Paul Mulders. We wanted to build the game with continous flow of passes,” Weiss said. “Overall, I am happy with the performance and the three points that we collected today,” the German continued. “The win has provided much needed confident to us ahead of the important match against Tajikistan on Tuesday.” Talking about the Indian team, Weiss stated: “I think Bob Houghton’s legacy is still working on. We couldn’t see passing movement from them. We played better game than them.”
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Savio is right as much as I hate to say it. All his points are 100% right. Of course though he is one of those coaches that can talk but cant really coach.