Former Indian football team captain and legend Bhaichung Bhutia agrees with Igor Stimac that in the current set-up, it is difficult to get the desired results for the senior national men’s team. Bhutia, who is busy these days with his academy, took some time off to share his views exclusively to Revsportz on the current situation – lack of planning by the Federation, Sunil Chhetri’s decision to come back from retirement, Manolo Marquez’s role and more. Here are the excerpts:
What do you have to say about Igor Stimac’s comment that even if you get Guardiola or Mourinho to coach the India team, it would be difficult to get success with the current set-up?
Bhaichung Bhutia: The success of a team always depends on a coach’s tactical genius and players’ quality. It is a combination of both. Even if you bring the best of coaches, if you do not have good players, it will be difficult to get the desired results. Even if you get Sir Alex Ferguson as the coach, until and unless you have the quality players in the set-up, Indian football will not go forward.
Do you believe the lack of preparation and scheduling is also to be blamed for not getting the desired results?
Bhaichung Bhutia: The problem is if you do not have good quality players, who can adapt to any situation and adjust to any formation as quickly as possible… The best players adapt quickly when they are playing club football and for national teams under different coaches. Yes, you need adequate time to prepare well for an important match, but if you don’t have players with proper skills, then it will be difficult for the coach to get the success. It is about having a strong grassroot program and that should be the priority of the federation.
So, what do you think that AIFF has to do in terms of getting Indian football back on track?
Bhaichung Bhutia: Federation needs to talk less and work more. Indian football will not move a single step forward with AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey making statements sitting in his air-conditioned room to the media about Vision 2047 or taking an initiative about getting PIOs and OCIs in the Indian football team.
You must see what exactly is the work going on at the grassroots level. What kind of research work is being done to really promote footballers in grassroots and ground level. How serious is the federation in terms of providing quality training facilities for the national team, organising matches for the senior team that needs to be looked at.
If you look, most of the players that are coming up are a product of the private academies across the country. A lot of players are coming from the academies which are being run by private organisations like the Minerva Academy, Bhaichung Bhutia Football School, TATA and Reliance.
It is the private academies which put in a lot of money and time to produce talented footballers. We must find out what exactly our football federation and state associations are doing in terms of developing grassroots level. Barring a couple of state associations, none have an academy of their own. If the private academies stop functioning, there will be no players coming out from tomorrow.
These academies are pumping in money from their own pockets, organising trials to tap talents across the country and giving them the opportunities. The Federation needs to look at solutions on how to work together in tandem rather than making rules to create a hindrance in the development of Indian football. The priority should be to get more kids playing football today. How it can be done is more important. If we have 50 lakh kids playing football, we can easily unearth talents and groom them.
Finally, what is your take on Manolo Marquez getting Sunil Chhetri back into the Indian team?
Bhaichung Bhutia: I think it was evident from the fact that Manolo Marquez is under tremendous pressure since the senior team has not won a single competitive game in 2024. So, that may have influenced Manolo to take this decision, convincing Sunil to rethink about his decision to come back from retirement.
Look, Sunil is now 40 plus and he has passed his prime. Sunil is in that age where he will not be able to dribble past a defender and score a goal. You are playing an Asia Cup qualifier which happens for almost a year. For a qualifier against Bangladesh, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Manolo could have taken a gamble with young strikers in giving opportunities to them, looking for long-term development. Look at Bangladesh, they fielded an 18-year-old player in the match against India. Clearly, they have a long-term vision in place.
Follow Revsportz for more updates
Also Read : “We are not allowing talented Indian boys to develop themselves” – Igor Stimac on Indian football mess
“You can bring Guardiola, you can bring Mourinho. The result will be the same”: Igor Stimac