Mumbai: India head coach Stephen Constantine believes that the coaching staff of the national team needs to be given control of junior sides as well, in order for football to progress in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the senior national team’s training camp in the Andheri Sports Complex, in Mumbai, Constantine was in favour of a system where the senior national team coach could take control of the national sides across all age groups.
“The national coach should lead all the national teams. And I mean lead in terms of philosophy, selection of coaches, methodology, everything,” said Constantine on Saturday, before the team’s departure for Phnom Penh, where India take on Cambodia in an international friendly next week, before travelling to Malaysia for their Asian Cup third round Group A qualifiers.
“Now, you get the argument that what happens if they (coaches) are sacked? What happens with the U-17s is that they are getting to learn different systems anyway,” explained Constantine. The 54-year-old went on to cite Malaysia as an example of this model, where German coach Gerd Zeise and his support staff look after the national teams across all age groups.
“I think a classic example is Myanmar. They have qualified for the U-20 World Cup on merit. Their average age is about 24 in their senior national team, and they’ve had their coach there for the last eight years.”
Constantine also stressed the importance of scouting talented players across the country, for the different age groups.
“We need to go out and find them, we need to scout for them. It’s a process,” he said.
The Englishman made it clear that clubs should have a stronger scouting system.
‘Aizawl are the Leicester of India’
A 24-member squad was named on Saturday but no one from high-flying Aizawl FC made it to the squad.
Aizawl were relegated to I-League II last season, before being promoted back to the I-League due to the pull-out of Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa.
Now, the team from Mizoram are sitting pretty atop the I-League table.
Constantine praised the club, saying: “As a team they’ve played very well. We can say that they are the Leicester City of India.”
But he said that he did not pick any one from Aizawl, as he did not want to disturb the balance of the national side.
