Will be tough for India in SAFF, says Medeira

                                            

Last time when India won the SAFF football championship four years ago, Savio Medeira was the chief coach and he was the assistant coach to Wim Kovermans when India went down to Afghanistan in the final two years ago.

Now in Thiruvananthapuram as All-India Football Federation’s coaching instructor for AFC’s ‘B’ licence course, Savio said that India as host would have its task cut out to win the championship.

“We used to be the dominant nation in SAFF football tournament till a few years ago.

“But now other nations have started dominating us. It is not that our standard has come down but the truth is that other countries have improved a lot especially Afghanistan.

“Playing at home is added pressure and it will be a tough task for our boys to win the title,” said Medeira.

“The preparation or lack of it will have a bearing on the performance of the national team,” said Mederia who has the rare distinction of being the only one to win the SAFF championship as a player and a coach.

“You see the ISL has kept some of the players pre-occupied and a few of them would be joining the squad just before the start of the tournament.

“I agree they will be in competitive trim but unlike foreign players Indian players need time to adjust to the new formations and strategies.

“I don’t think the coach will get enough time to spend with those who arrive late in the camp. Other countries have already started their preparations in earnest.

“Our main rival Afghanistan is training in Qatar for the last one month and Sri Lanka is already here. In that context I must admit that Indian team will be a rusty when the tournament begins and it will put pressure on them if things don’t fall in place early in the tournament,” said Medeira.

Enjoying new role

The 50-year-old former Indian star who spent his entire playing career with Salgaocar said he was enjoying his new role as coaching instructor.

“The grassroots development can only be successful if we have good coaches to teach our youngsters proper technique and skills. Coaches’ education is important and AIFF has realised this.

“The State associations should also take cue and start appointing good coaches for their grassroot development programme.

“As an instructor my job is to ensure that the coaches are equipped to deal with various aspects of coaching like identifying, nurturing talent, teaching basic techniques like first touch, dribbling etc and more importantly football intelligence.

“I feel it is an area where we lag behind foreigners.

“A good coach at grassroot level can imbibe all these qualities in a youngster,” added Medeira.

Regarding ISL, Medeira expressed his reservations about the short duration of the tournament and added that he was in favour of a staggered league.

“The short duration of the league put tremendous stress on our players.

“This will lead to burn outs and injuries. Ideally it should be played over a longer duration say about six months where players have enough time to recoup.

“I expect both I-League and ISL to merge sooner or later,” he said.