Exclusive with Carles Cuadrat Part 2: “As we have seen at the National Team level, the results are still not good” says Carles on the national team’s performances
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After the first part of the exclusive where we discussed about the Indian Super League with Carles Cuadrat, here comes the second part of the Exclusive with Carles Cuadrat. In this piece, we discuss about the Indian football and where the Indian football is heading and what should be the approach of All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the years to come.
Since the last interview, Carles Cuadrat’s team was able to defeat the table toppers, AEK Larnaca in an intense game in their own backyard. The team has cut down the lead with the table toppers to just two points with a victory against former table toppers, AEK Larnaca.
Without further ado, here is our second part of the exclusive interview:
Exclusive with Carles Cuadrat: What is the biggest challenge for Indian football? Is it money, infrastructure or something different?
The biggest challenge is keeping the route. Many things have been achieved in these years. The ISL has relaunched football in the country. Franchisees are required to invest in their academies. It has been possible to put a team to compete directly in the Champions League phase, which is something very important. The 2017 U-17 World Cup generation is gradually gaining prominence. Clubs teach their players to lead the lives of professional athletes. It is no longer just making young people debut to say that my team brings young people out. It's not about that. On the contrary, you have to take them out only when they can do it well, without overdoing the exposure to pressure and mistakes. In that sense, I am very happy with how we managed to develop a player like Suresh Wagjan into a champion team full of stars.
Talking about the development of a player like Suresh Wangjam, the former Bengaluru FC manager said:
It was not easy at all to find a space for him, and little by little, combining experiences with team B where I went to see him every week, and with minutes in the first team, where at the beginning he lost too many balls, we were debugging a player that in 2 years he has managed to be a regular starter with the National Team. And the same thing has also happened with Nishu Kumar, although unfortunately lately he has been out for a long time due to his injuries. That is one of my pride as a coach these 5 years in India. Not only have we won Titles, but we have also made 11 players from the Academy debut and give them continuity (Lion, Parag, Buthia, Biswa, etc), and, above all, we have protected the careers of several Indian players such as Rahul Bheke, Ashique Kuruniyan, Nishu Kumar or Suresh Wagjan so that they could assiduously accompany the regulars Sunil, Gurpreet and Udanta to the National Team (7 of the guys from my starting team always went with India in 2019. A great success for the club).
Carles Cuadrat has left India with the satisfaction that his players went on to feature for the national efforts. Talking about that, he said:
For me, this is the satisfaction that I have left from the passage in India; to compete, to win and to train players for National Team. It has been a lot of effort, a long time away from home and my family ... but it has been worth it.
Exclusive with Carles Cuadrat: According to you, how has Indian football grown in the past decade? What does the future hold for Indian football?
Only one thing is completely certain about the future of Indian football: you have to keep working and investing at the level you have done in recent years if you want the results to be noticed in terms of the level of play and positioning among the countries of the Asian continent. I have been fortunate to have participated in the 2 main football competitions in the country, I-League and ISL, and without a doubt, the latter improves standards in everything (facilities, grass, players, competitivity). It was a success to bring this type of competition to the country and now, with ISL's eighth season about to begin, we can affirm without any doubt that there has been a great development of local players and the interaction of the new Indian promises with good foreigners players and coaches made them better.
The Aris Limassol manager was not happy with the performances of the national team. He gave the corrective measures as well for the national team:
The ISL level requirement has allowed Indian young players to improve very quickly. But as we have seen at the National Team level, the results are still not good. We have not been able to beat rivals like Afghanistan or Sri Lanka. And Bangladesh has only been defeated once in the last 3 official matches. It is clear that it is not enough. That is why I say that the efforts of organizations and clubs must be extended over time, and we need 2 decades of work at this rate to really make our voice heard on the continent, as countries such as Japan or Australia have been necessarily doing in the past. Only in this way, with consistency and investment, will India play good roles in national team football or in club competitions such as the AFC Cup or the Champions League.
(Here is the link to the Part 1 of the Exclusive conducted by Varun Aithal)
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Varun Aithal
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