Wim plans Tajik coup
The national football team are in Khujand, Tajikistan for the international friendly on August 14 and national coach Wim Koevermans is wasting no time to prepare his men for the match.
Koevermans is aware that it will be a tough challenge for his boys but he wants them to rise to the occasion.
Excerpts from an interview:
What is the significance of this friendly against Tajikistan?
Since taking over as India’s national coach my priority has been to play as many international friendlies as possible as you need the experience to get better. Playing against Tajikistan will be another experience for the boys and I can tell you, they are a very tough side.
You have some new faces in the squad.
They may be new faces in the team but they are not new to me. They were there in the camp in Pune prior to the AFC Challenge Cup — Malsawmtluanga, Arnab (Mondal), Sandesh (Jhingan). Unfortunately, some of them had to be left out as they were injured.
How do you think your players will react to the challenge?
You may be prompted to think that someone playing well in the league will be an instant hit at the international front but it’s not the case. International matches are of much higher level than any domestic league match as you play against the best players of that respective country. So you have to draft players slowly into your squad. You can never hurry into it.
With the Saff Championship around, what are your plans?
We had to leave some players out because of their lack of training time with their respective clubs. However, I can bring in everybody in the preparatory camp for the Saff Championship in Bengaluru as I will have more time to look at them. We will have enough training sessions to focus on them.
Have you had a look at Tajikistan?
I have seen videos of them. But they have a new coach. So you never know – their style of play may change. But there’s no doubt they are a very strong side. But it’s about playing such strong sides that you learn a lot. You still go back to the Nehru Cup final where we beat Cameroon. Such matches make you realise that you need to win such games if you aim to go up higher. We are looking for a good match.
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