Igor Stimac talks too much. There is too much focus on the coach, and his outspoken comments just bring negative attention. Who is Igor Stimac to tell the powers that be how to run Indian football? His uneasy relationship with several ISL clubs doesn’t help the sport.
This is just a distilled sample of the opinions that have been aired in recent months, especially after the Indian football team’s results have tapered off. Stimac’s touchline antics, which have brought two red cards, have made him a lightning rod for criticism, and taken attention away from the mess that is football administration in India. Even the build-up to this Kuwait game was dominated by off-field nonsense relating to the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
But let’s not make this about Stimac or any other individual. Let’s deal only in cold, hard facts. India are a joke of a football nation, have been for over half a century. In its strongest phase, when Syed Abdul Rahim was national coach in the 1950s and early ’60s, those tasked with running the game [into the ground] didn’t even bother to enter the World Cup qualification process. That’s right. Between the 1958 tournament – which introduced a coconut-headed Pele to the world – and the 1986 one in Mexico that was all about Diego Maradona, India didn’t play the qualifiers.
Bear in mind that even North Korea, ruled by a succession of dynastic tinpot dictators for over 70 years, played in England in 1966, upsetting Italy to reach the last eight. India? Frogs in the well who thought football meant a hotch-potch of tournaments like the Santosh Trophy, Federation Cup, IFA Shield and city/state-based leagues.
Look at the results since India first took part in the qualifiers, ahead of Mexico ’86. A 7-0 loss to South Korea (1993), 0-6 versus Qatar (1996) and 0-7 against Japan’s Blue Samurai (2004) are just the tip of a dismal iceberg that has been floating for decades. And let’s not forget Brandon McDonald and Travis Nicklaw, whose goals led Guam to a 2-1 win against India in 2015. Guam! An island that’s not even a pimple on the map, and whose population is barely twice the capacity of the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
This was the scenario that Stimac walked into. Poisoned chalice? Forget such delusions of grandeur. More like a bucket of shit. A domestic calendar that still looks like a shanty town to which new additions are bolted on, two leagues that both claimed to be the standard-bearer, and an administration concerned only with ensuring junkets for the suits.
Stimac grew up in and played for Croatia. Boxing has long had this notion of the best pound-for-pound fighter, across weight categories. If football had something similar, the Croatians would top the list. A small country on the Adriatic, and generations of highly skilled footballers with both the technique and the strength of character to play a wonderfully expressive style.
It will take more than Stimac for Indian football to even dream of such levels. But there was so much to admire in Kuwait City on Thursday night. To use the cliché so beloved of English commentators, each player ‘put in a shift’. It was no coincidence that the goal came from the left flank, where Akash Mishra’s rampaging runs from the back had caused Kuwait all kinds of problems. Manvir Singh, much criticised in the past and scorer of a sensational winning goal, ran the channels tirelessly all night, trying to hold up the ball and bring his teammates into the fray.
The patched-up defence, with no Anwar Ali, was largely comfortable. There was no wave after wave of Kuwaiti attacks, and the sporadic ones they did summon up were easily dealt with by Sandesh Jhingan and company. Make no mistake, this was not a great Kuwaiti side. But as far as Asian football is concerned, they are streets ahead of India, having played a World Cup as far back as 1982.
So, while Indian football fans shouldn’t get carried away, especially with Qatar, the champions of Asia, up next, this is a good time to appreciate this group of players, Stimac and unsung heroes like Luka Radman, the fitness coach who chose the call of duty over heading home for his father’s funeral.
It wasn’t that long ago that India would have been embarrassed to be on the same pitch as teams like Qatar and Kuwait. That isn’t the case now. There will be banana skins and setbacks between now and the end of this round of qualification next June. So be it. But before you sharpen your knives when that happens, just think of Guam.