‘Mumbai has treated us well’

The Indian national football team has been regularly camping in Mumbai ever since the friendly against Puerto Rico in September, 2016. Coach Stephen Constantine is partial to the Mumbai Football Arena at Andheri Sports Complex for training and it has hosted a couple of friendlies besides the three-nation tournament last year.

The national team has been camping in the city since May 16 for the four-nation Intercontinental Cup, which will get underway here on June 1. New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Kenya besides India will take part in the tournament. In March, India trained here ahead of the last league match of Asian Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan. The away match ended India’s 13-match unbeaten streak which signified India has lost just a game since starting to train in Mumbai a couple of
years ago.

The conditions in Mumbai are pretty similar to UAE who will host the Asian Cup in January next year. But Constantine revealed that he loves to come back to Mumbai because the team has been treated well here.

“I like to create a habit. We like to be somewhere where we have the least amount of problems and that's why we have come to Mumbai. Whenever we have
faced a problem (MDFA president Aaditya) Thackeray has fixed it promptly. We are treated well here and whenever we need to fix the stadium or grass it has been done. We are well looked after in the hotel (JW Marriott Juhu) as well. They have kept the same staff since we came here the first time. If we go elsewhere things are not organised as well as here,” Constantine said.

The Englishman urged the fans to throng the Mumbai Football Arena in huge numbers to support his boys in the ensuing Intercontinental Cup.

“Come, everyone! I greatly appreciate the support from West Block Blues, Blue pilgrims and other fan groups. Be it in Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai, everywhere we have been welcomed by hugely enthusiastic group fans. I would like to give the due credit to my bosses Praful Patel (AIFF president) and Kushal Das (AIFF secretary) for giving me a free hand to work and the result is speaking for themselves,” he said.

The 30-member probables squad led by talismanic Sunil Chhetri train at the venue in morning and evening sessions. The coach mentioned that one analyst is going to join the think tank shortly who’ll analyse the opponents as well as the Indian players to fix the right strategy ahead of every single match.

“The GPS system gives us certain info which helps us very much. Now, we have got one guy who is helping Sandesh (Jhinghan) and Anas (Edathodika) to fasten their rehabilitation. Another person from Norway is going to join us shortly who’ll help out analysing every match. As of now, he’s relentlessly working for last two weeks breaking down our performance in last ten matches. Then he’ll start with our opponents like Kenya, New Zealand followed by Chinese Taipei. Moreover, he’ll sit along with the
players to chalk out our future plans.”