The Indian Super League (ISL) training session is open for viewing for all of 15 minutes. Often, one catches no more than an outstretched leg and a rotating hip. Yet, those fortunate to be inside Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium a year ago on a pleasant December evening witnessed a master-class from the legendary Zico.
Art of marking The Brazilian was with his FC Goa wards, trying to teach them how to mark. One player would charge the ball with the others marking a player each. Once the opponent passes, the player closest to the ball had to charge and the opponent left unmarked by his movement was to be marked by another in a split second.
This would in turn create a vacancy elsewhere and had to be filled up immediately. At no point was any player expected to be left unattended. What it required was highly synchronous behaviour shaped by fast thinking and supreme agility. It was to be repeated over and over again until mastered.
Such routines might be commonplace elsewhere too, hidden away from curious eyeballs and rolling cameras. But speaking to players and support staff alike, coupled with evidence on the pitch and the demeanour of the man himself — “the motto was today to kill or die,” he said after the semifinal second leg defeat of Delhi Dynamos — it is safe to say that no other person has had as profound an influence on the nascent league as Zico.
“I believe that for the ISL and Goa, Zico was a very rare find,” said Beto, one of the I-League’s finest players and presently Zico’s agent through his player agency Get Pro Sports Management. “His personality, his dealing with youth. It has benefitted the entire league. Ask players like Romeo [Fernandes] and Mandar [Desai].”
“He is a great teacher and I am a willing student. I am privileged to work under him.” said Mandar.
“What we need as players is constant motivation,” said Romeo. “His faith in me makes me bring out my best on the field.”
For the latter in particular Zico has been a father-figure. After an impressive first season, Romeo went to Atletico Paranaense in Brazil. But as he found the going very tough, he was back in India to start things from scratch. The way he has been nurtured back to his best does tell something.
It’s his passion to develop and give others what he has,” said Beto. “Zico doesn’t need to be recognised as a coach. His legend is already built and his family is taken care of. Even a month ago, he got a call from Turkey to manage in a Champions League team. He refused. He is not after money.”
Reformist figure Zico has always come across as a reformist figure. He went to Japan when professional football didn’t even exist there and became part of the revolution. Way back in 1990, he became Brazil’s first sports minister. And in 2015, with FIFA neck-deep in corruption, he threw his hat into the ring as well. Even in India, from day one, he has been relentlessly advocating an expanded league with more Indians and less foreign imports.
“When you bring a player, it’s not just the name,” he said recently. “We need to know what he has been doing. I like to play like Asian federation with two or three foreigners. In Qatar and all they invest in three very, very good players. Just see their results — how they are playing in Asia.”
Zico is now nearing the end of his two-year contract with FC Goa. With one semifinal finish and a final to play, he has already left an indelible imprint. The hope from fans and players has been for the association to be a prolonged one. But he has so far been non-committal.
“The club wants him to stay. He is interested too” said Beto. “But it depends on the project that’s presented to him.”
