THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

CLIFFORD MIRANDA STANDS VINDICATED AS THE COACH WHO HELPED ODISHA FC CLINCH ITS FIRST SUPER CUP

It’s

a day Clifford Miranda won’t forget in a hurry. On March 16, he was handed the reins of Odisha FC, after the departure of their Spanish head coach, Josep Gombau. There was this unsaid pressure ahead of the Super Cup, especially after Odisha’s stellar season where they finished sixth on the table to make the Indian Super League (ISL) playoffs for the first time. However, results were the last thing on Miranda’s mind. “My goal was to convince the players that I am the man to take them forward,” says Miranda.

The wait wasn’t long for Odisha. On April 25, they clinched their first silverware after beating Bengaluru FC 2-1 in the final of the Super Cup. And a few days later, they continued their winning run against last season’s I-League champions, Gokulam Kerala FC, to qualify for the group stages of the AFC Cup later this year.

“To represent India in Asian club competition is huge,” says Miranda. He would know. During his playing days, the midfielder was a part of the Dempo SC side that made the semi-final of the AFC Cup in 2008— a first for Indian football. He spent over a decade with the Goan club, winning the domestic league on five occasions. When he finally called it a day in 2017, he immediately jumped at a coaching opportunity with FC Goa’s youth development programme. “I wanted to stop playing when I was still good. I had done my licences by then and my intent was to develop footballers,” he says.

After winning the Goa Professional League with the reserve side of FC Goa and picking up the ISL League Winners Shield as interim coach of the senior team, Miranda moved to Odisha as assistant coach at the start of last season. Once handed the top job, he was aware of what Gombau had achieved, but he was also clear that he

wanted to imprint his own style of play at the club.

However, time was a constraint, the first game just three weeks away. Besides, the lack of match practice meant that their first real test was against East Bengal in their drawn opener. But the players responded well to the tweaks and changes Miranda implemented, remaining unbeaten for the rest of the tournament. “I could have continued with the way things were under Gombau. But in case I failed, I didn’t want to regret the fact that I hadn’t implemented my methodology,” says Miranda.

These days, Miranda is back in Goa spending time with family. The team will regroup towards the end of July for preseason, as they gear up for their debut in Asian competition, besides the ISL and other domestic cups.

“The respect and appreciation of the players is more important for me than winning the Super Cup or qualifying for the AFC Cup. It validates my belief that I’m on the right track,” adds Miranda.

Odisha’s Super Cup success was the first major trophy earned by an Indian coach at the helm of an ISL club. Since the league was established in 2013, the only other Indian to have led an ISL side is Khalid Jamil, who worked with NorthEast United FC in 2021-22. “The hope is that more Indian coaches can guide teams in the near future. The new generation is so much better than some of the foreigners who come here. I hope they can be trusted by the owners to take on this responsibility,” says Miranda. ■