Football coach seeks to include overseas players
BELEAGUERED coach Igor Stimac has dropped enough hints about his inclination to include Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) in the national football team that stands shaken after one of its biggest defeats in years.
An inexperienced India were humiliated 0-6 by UAE in an international friendly in Dubai recently.
“Sometimes I get the impression that we have too much opinion of ourselves when it comes to opponents like Afghanistan or Bangladesh,” Stimac was quoted as saying the AIFF.
A member of the Croatian team that made the semifinals of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he added, “Let me remind you that Afghanistan has allowed overseas citizen players to play for the national team. They now have 13 players coming from European leagues.
“They are competing in Germany, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. They also have two players playing in Australian clubs, and one player in the USA top division. Bangladesh has introduced a 3+1 policy, and their league is extremely competitive too.”
The Blue Tigers have won just one match, against Thailand, since May 2019 even though they did manage to push fancied opponents such as Qatar and Oman.
The inclusion of OCI and PIO (Players of Indian Origin) has been a topic of debate in Indian football ever since former head coach Stephen Constantine spoke about the need for India to go down that route. To improve, he said the team will have to take the “difficult” and “painful” route of playing against tough teams instead of playing against easy opponents.
“If you want to compare the recent friendly matches, then you need to take a closer look at teams India has played against before, and with whom since I have been in charge. One heavy defeat will certainly not make us give up and return to the pleasure of defeating opponents who do not pose any obstacle in Asian football.”