PANAJI
Indian Arrows coach Luis Norton de Matos is determined to fast-track development of the India youth internationals through their I-League involvement and their first taste of professional club football competition comes on Wednesday with the clash against Chennai City FC at Athletics stadium, Bambolim at 5.30 pm.
For the Portuguese coach, the I-League will offer his players challenge of a very high level that cannot be simulated in hours and hours of training. "If you want to progress, you need to come across difficulties... this competition will give us lot of problems, which are impossible to tackle in normal session of training.
"Now the question is whether this team is prepared for the physical combat with I-League clubs. I think that is not the main question... the boys need experience, and that is most important. You can only get experience playing with experienced players. We are prepared for that, and I have said to my players, ‘nobody wins or loses before playing," explained de Matos at the pre-match briefing at Bambolim on Tuesday.
With India having played de Matos' brand of high-intensity football at the recent FIFA U-17 World Cup, the focus will be on the players with regards to understanding and executing their roles in the team against matured opposition in I-League.
"We need to play organised football. I prepare the profile of a player and teach them to play collectively. It is important for each player in each position - centre forward, wingers - gets this collective idea and then tomorrow, the main national coach can say ‘okay, they are ready'. I have seen some 20-year-old Indian players in ISL, with very interesting way of playing. India do have possibility to have good players. They need organisation in working and competitions," stressed de Matos.
Indian Arrows -- who are playing their home match in Goa for lack of venue in New Delhi for now -- comprising of U-17 and U-19 India players will need to compete against the professional Chennai outfit who boast of good quality foreign players like Michael Lucky, IIdar Amirov and Venyamin Shumeyko in their ranks.
Surprisingly, Chennai City coach V Soundararajan believes that Indian Arrows will be tactically better prepared for their first match.
"We have a very good opportunity to play with Indian Arrows, who are the best organised side in India. Tactically the team is superior than us because more than three years, they have been practising together," said Soundararajan referring to the chunk of U-17 World Cup players in the Indian Arrows side.
"The only advantage we have is the foreign players in our team. That apart, the average age of our squad is 25 while they are U-19 boys. With this slight advantage, we will try to beat Indian Arrows," added the visiting coach.
Captain and midfielder Michael Soosairaj brushed off the physical edge over their rivals, saying, "we are not underestimating Indian Arrows". His counterpart, Suresh Singh of Indian Arrows is delighted that Indian Arrows experiment has been resumed. It may be recalled that such an initiative was undertaken by the AIFF in 2010-11 season and disbanded at the end of 2012-13 season apparently due to financial constraint.
"I would like to thank the federation for giving us a chance to play in the I-League. The team is excited with the opportunity as in the coming four months we are going to play 18 matches and gain a lot of experience. This is good for future of Indian football team," said the Manipuri midfielder.
Indian Arrows v Chennai City FC, Athletics Stadium, Bambolim. Kick-off: 5.30 pm
