How is it to play under Stimac
When Igor Stimac set about on the training ground with the Indian national team, it was a drastic change initially, but the players have warmed up to the Croat’s style of play.
Igor Stimac arrived on the country’s shores months after India’s bittersweet AFC Asian Cup campaign. The Blue Tigers had fought valiantly before crashing out of the tournament in the nal few minutes of the game. Former coach Stephen Constantine had announced his departure minutes after the team’s ouster, and a broad chase for his replacement was conducted over three months.
From being a part of Croatia’s “golden generation” that nished third at the 199■ FIFA World Cup to later coaching the national team, Stimac was seen as the man to awaken Indian football from its enduring slumber.
The Croat, a burly defender in his day, wanted to enforce a possessionbased, passing game from the defence with the Blue Tigers — a complete contrast to Constantine’s philosophy. During the Englishman’s second stint, the teams were drilled to play in a defencerst approach and became synonymous with a routeone approach in attack.
So when Stimac set about on the training ground, it was a drastic change initially, but the players have warmed up to his style of play.
“My favourite memory playing under Stimac would be the rst game I played against Thailand in the King’s Cup. I kept a clean sheet and we won that game 10. The entire team fought really well and I was really happy to win in the rst game and keep a clean sheet,” says goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who recently led Mumbai City FC to the Indian Super League title and the League Winner’s Shield.
The win over Thailand was a positive start for the new coach, but that remains his only victory with the team to date. India has won one game, drawn ve and lost six. Amrinder feels the team will be able to do better if the coach has more time with his players and longer camps, but the Covid19en
forced break last year meant the national team was out of action for 15 months between December 2019 and February 2021, while Stimac’s twoyear contract comes to an end in May — a month before India’s nal three FIFA World Cup qualiers.
“I feel the last two years have been dicult for the coach. There has not been a lot of time in the camps for him to set his plan and he has not had proper time with the players as such. The good thing is that in whatever time he has got, all the players have adapted to his style well,” says Amrinder.
Breaking down the coach’s workings, he says, “He explains things very well to each player. He tells us what he expects from us in each position. He needs more time — if we get a good long camp for one month or 40 days, you will see there will be a massive improvement and dierence in our performance. I am condent that we will do well going ahead.”
Defensive midelder Rowllin Borges, who has played ve games for the national team since Stimac’s arrival, feels the Croat has helped him improve his defensive side of the game. “I have played in the No. 6 position in most games under Stimac and he has really helped me learn how to play in that role. Working with him has helped me improve my defensive abilities and my positioning. His style of play requires us to have ball possession, so I’ve learnt how to create space for others and be available for players to pass me the ball,” he says.
Another Mumbai City midelder, Raynier Fernandes, who made his debut under Stimac, provided insights on the coach’s preparations ahead of a camp: “Unlike club football, we don’t have as much time in the national team fold. We have 15day camps usually, so it gets dicult at times. In order to make it easier, the coach sends us videos to show us formations, what formation we
should play and how we should adapt to that system so that we can be prepared when we come to the camp. That’s one thing I like because it’s like going to an exam — he gives us the notes and we just have to study and then go and perform. It feels great for me because you know how much the coach wants us to improve and he’s doing everything he can to help us perform well.”
An attacking midelder, Raynier had to don a more defensive role in the national team setup, which the 25yearold says he enjoys. “I am mostly an attacking player, but in his system, I play in the same position as Rowllin. It was new to me, but I adapted to it and it felt great. He’s not a coach who abuses or shouts when someone makes a mistake in training or in the game — he motivates us and gives us condence. Whatever he teaches us is simple and eective. He really motivates all the young players so that we do better each day. You feel very motivated to play when you train under such a toplevel coach,” he says.
When Stimac named his rst probables squad in over a year, he introduced 12 new faces with several youngsters receiving callups. Hyderabad FC’S Akash Mishra, 19 years old, and Mohammad Yasir, 23, were among the new boys in a group that had an average age of 25.
For Akash, who described it as “a dream” to play alongside players he had grown up watching on TV, explained that the step up to the senior level was made easy by Stimac. “Having played under Manolo [Marquez] at Hyderabad FC, it didn’t feel dierent paying under Stimac. He sees both the senior and junior players as one. He tries to motivate us so the junior players who are coming in don’t feel bad if they make mistakes. In this camp, there were so many young players, we didn’t feel the pressure of playing in a senior team. During the halftime of matches, he ensures we don’t feel the negative pressure of being a goal down. He pushes you and asks us to go out there and play,” he explained.
Yasir, a technically sound attacking midelder, said, “It’s good to have a coach like him who wants us to play with the ball. It suits my game as well.”
The duo made their debuts in the creditable 11 draw against Oman in a friendly, but what followed was a trial by re in the next game when India was hammered 60 by the United Arab Emirates on March 29.
Speaking about the game, Akash said, “Everyone was upset after the game because the match didn’t go according to plan. There was not much talk after the game. We had to leave for home the next day. The coach said if we have to plan something, we have to do it out on the eld. If we are scared of the opponents, it’s not going to help.”