We have to work together to raise the football standards in India, says former Brazil coach Zico

Legendary Brazilian Zico has said that the growth of football in India depended on the "mentality of the Indian players". But the 61-year-old manger and chief coach of FC Goa in the upcoming Indian Super League was confident of helping the sport grow in the country.

"If India would like to grow, it depends on the Indian football players' mentality. We can provide help through our rich experience but the ability to grow lies solely in you. I am here to extend my help for the growth of football whether the player is amateur or a professional," the 61-year-old former coach of Brazil national team said in an interview.

Zico did not want to just give his name to the team. He has taken it upon himself to see the standard of football grow in India. "I hope to contribute significantly to football, not only in Goa but also in India as a whole. There is a huge responsibility placed on my shoulders and I will do justice to it. I know expectations are high. I am motivated to take on this role of coach to FC Goa. We cannot work in isolation but have to do so as a team. We have to work together to raise the standards of football in the country. I plan to take the team and football to the highest level and will do my best."

The attacking midfielder of yesteryear who scored 48 goals in 71 appearances for Brazil including in three World Cups (1978, 1982, 1986) said that the Indian Super League would help Indian football. "ISL is a big league. I sincerely hope that the quality of football will rise with the ISL and it will benefit football as a whole. For success, we have to work very hard. I have done so in my country and will do the same in India. I will offer my experience and knowledge to better the sport of football in the country.

"Asian football is getting stronger. I am not here to be a mere passenger, I am here to be a part of the development of football in the country. I will share my philosophy of the game with the team. India is a very large country but it is very unfortunate that the standard of football is not too high. I came to Kolkata in 2004 for the World Cup preliminaries and saw stadia full of people enthusiastically cheering and enjoying the game. If there is so much love for the game, then there should be something done to raise its standard. I hope that football scales greater heights with the help of the federation and the government."

Asked about how he felt about players already being signed to play for FC Goa before he took over, Zico said: "My basic duty is to train and to bring out the best in the players I have been assigned to. Which sometimes is good. Often when the results are bad, the coach is blamed for selecting the players and that becomes a bigger problem for the coach. In Brzail, if you lose four matches, you are sent home. But in England, coaches stay on for 12 and even 15 years. This differs from culture to culture. My job is to make the players better so that they do their best. It may be very easy for FC Goa to even sign on a Ronaldo or a Neymar. My job will still be to train them.

Besides Brazil, Zico has coached in Japan and Turkey. About the challenges of coaching, Zico said: "Each country is different from the other. In Japan, there was no professionalism at all. But the biggest advantage I had was that everyone in the Japanese team was united and wanted to progress from amateur football to professional football. In Turkey, they've been concentrating on the internal football league only. I tried to change their mentality and encouraged them to venture beyond their comfort zone and look towards the international arena. That is how they took the initiative to play in Europe and other parts of the world. Youngsters in Qatar were not interested in football at all. I had to build that drive inside them for them to take the game seriously. Sometimes bringing big players to the table doesn't help if the players don't have the urge to change their mentality. But I managed to do that in Qatar," he said.

Zico, for whom the best player at the moment is James Rodrigues of Colombia, said that it was difficult to transform from a player into a coach. "It has been a difficult transition from player to coach because your whole focus is raising the standard of the team. It's much more difficult for sure. A coach needs to look into every minute detail. What is important is not to hold onto all responsibilities by yourself but to allot responsibilities. Its important to delegate, to plan well and prepare the team. It's important to work together as a team. To be successful as a team, everyone needs to play their role well, the players as well as the technical staff. Winning is a combination of many elements working towards a single goal," he said.

Zico said that he never though of becoming a coach while he was playing the game. "I focused on playing. I never thought that I'd coach. I went to Japan to play. Somewhere along the line I was requested to coach the team and I accepted. That's how coaching happened. The team wasn't doing too well for a few years. The president requested me to take over when there were just 13 matches remaining. We worked together as a team and at the end of those 13 matches, we had won 11, lost one and drew one. We finished fifth. I started to enjoy coaching and that's how my coaching career began."