Constantine's realistic goals

A year ago when Stephen Constantine was handed over the reins of the Indian football team for the second time, no one knew what to expect. Will he be another disaster like Wim Koevermans under whom the national team nose-dived to a miserable 171st position on the FIFA list or will the side again get a task master that the Englishman was known to be during his first tenure? Questions were aplenty.

A year into his job, the 53-year-old seems to have answered some of those. Though Constantine’s side has endured a rough time in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, recording just a solitary win so far, their triumphant run in the SAFF Cup seems to have highlighted the way Constantine desires to lead India to a respectable position among the football playing nations.

 With the 2016-17 season just around the corner, Deccan Herald spoke to Constantine on his first year as the national coach and on his goals for the future. Excerpts:

It’s been a year since you took over as the head coach of the Indian national team. How has the journey been so far?

I believe there was a reason why I was called back, when India was placed in their worst FIFA ranking ever (171). So as expected, it hasn’t been an easy job. It’s been challenging and I am pleased with it. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has given me all the support and the freedom to do things as I see fit and I am thankful for that. I know the job is not done yet. We still have a long way to go.

The Indian team did not have a favourable season in 2015, with defeats in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. But they did manage to end the year on a high by clinching the SAFF Cup. How do you assess the team’s development under your watch?

From the standpoint where we were regularly losing to SAFF countries (before I took over), we have worked hard to correct our mistakes. That has brought a considerable change in the way we play now.

Another necessity was to infuse young blood into the national team. We had an ageing squad where the average age was over 30, that’s been replaced. The team’s average age now is around 24. That has helped us in creating a challenging side. And all this has been done because there was a distinct need.

Defeats in World Cup qualifiers have made India’s road to grab an Asian Cup berth tougher...

Yes certainly, but I don’t think there’s a need to ring alarm bells yet. We need to be realistic and remember where I took over from. The qualifiers saw a new national team take the field; players with very less or no experience playing at this stage. I believe these guys can only get better with time. Look at Eugeneson (Lyngdoh), Rowlin (Borges), (Cavin) Lobo, Sandesh (Jhingan), (Dhanpal) Ganesh, (Pritam) Kotal, Sehnaj (Singh), Holicharan (Narzary), Pronoy (Halder), Gurpreet (Singh) and you will understand it.

Up next for the national team are matches against Iran, in Tehran, and then Turkmenistan at home. How important do you think the two ties will be?

For me there’s not much difference. Every national team game is important for me as the previous one – be it against Iran, Guam, Nepal, Sri Lanka or any other team. There are no easy games for us at any level.

In the past one year, we have seen the national coach hand out debut to a number of youngsters. Will this trend continue, or do you have a settled national team at your disposal for the upcoming matches?

I don’t know, could be or could not be. But one needs to understand that more players we have with international experience the more choice we have. The more choices we have, more will be the competition for places in the side. I don’t care who plays. For me, if they are good enough, they will play. The door is always be open to a player who I feel who can help us — irrespective of him playing in the State League, Santosh Trophy, the I-League or the Indian Super League (ISL).

You have had an opportunity to see the Indian talent in action at the ISL and the I-League. What do you make of the talent pool in the country?

In most cases, because we have added young players in the national team set-up, they have attracted attention from the I-League and ISL. So the national team has been the supply line to the clubs whereas in an ideal situation, it needs to be the other way round.

Lack of international matches has been a problem for the Indian team, though last year the national team was kept busy with its commitments in the qualifiers...

As long as I am here the national team will play. We must use international calendar dates to maintain our standing and in order to improve it. The national team is the mirror for football in every country. And I want to ensure that India is placed in a good position.

Into your second season as the coach, what are the targets that you have set for the coming season?

When I took over, the first target was to get the team into the second round of the qualification and we achieved it. The next target was to regain the SAFF Cup and we achieved it. The next goal stays to qualify for the final qualifying round for the 2019 Asian Cup and we will have to achieve it too.