Wim Koevermans, India’s national football coach Wim Koevermans is not a happy man. If India’s scheduled friendlies getting cancelled wasn’t enough, the latest standoff between I-League clubs and the IMG-Reliance tournament has angered the Dutchman. So much so, that he’s calling it the “biggest threat” to Indian football.
“I can say and plan whatever I want, but the biggest threat now is the IMG-Reliance tournament. A lot of national players have signed contracts for the tournament and because of that the clubs won’t sign them.
“So, what I’m facing at the moment is that the contracted players cannot train with the clubs and prepare themselves. And I have a game with the national team in August,” a visibly agitated Koevermans said on Tuesday.
India are scheduled to play an international friendly against Tajikistan on August 14.
“So here we are, everyone wants to see a successful national team, and now we frustrate ourselves. You can organise anything you want for your country, but the national team should not suffer. And if I cannot take six or seven players because they are not with a club due to something created by ourselves, it is a big threat. And it should not have happened. Period.”
Koevermans, who is in Mumbai to conduct the AFC professional diploma licence course, also rued the fact that India are not playing enough friendlies. India were scheduled to play Bangladesh and Paksitan in London in June, but it was cancelled due to financial issues.
“I’m not happy with that. But that’s real life. We can only move up the rankings if we play matches. And hopefully India can give me that and not have problems like Yemen (which was also cancelled in November 2012) and the trip to London, because then I can’t do anything,” he added.
It’s been a year since Koevermans took charge of the team. India are now 146th on the FIFA rankings, but they failed to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup after losing to Myanmar in the final qualifying game in March. How does he rate his one year in office?
“If I look at the players that I’ve brought in, a lot of them have improved. We as a team have progressed – sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and get a knock on your head – but we have to keep going.
“I’m happy with our progress though we couldn’t qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. We could’ve easily qualified, but we didn’t. It’s not the end of the world,” he said.
What’s the road ahead for him and the team, with another year left in his contract?
“We have to improve as a professional side – everybody knows it – to get closer to qualifying for big tournaments in Asia. It is a very difficult route. There are talented players in India, the problem is what do we do with them. If we don’t do anything, nothing happens. If you just sit on the chair, nothing happens.”