The USA colts, who are in the State to participate the forthcoming AIFF Youth Cup (U-16), underwent a light first training session under overcast skies on Friday evening, at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco. Post the workout with his wards, John Hackworth, the USA coach spoke to Basil Sylvester Pinto about his team's preparations for the tournament. Excerpts:
Q: What challenges are you looking for as the team coach in this tourney?
JH: I think first and foremost, we have come to India to try and experience the culture and give ourselves a decent opportunity to see the country that is going to host the next Under-17 World Cup. And that is really very important for us. But then, it's a fantastic international competition. So it's a great opportunity to test ourselves.
Q: USA featured in the last U-17 World Cup in 2015. What are the expectations from this team looking at a bigger picture?
JH: We are a good team by now. We just came off winning the Montigue Mundial tourney hosted by France in April. We were successful then. We opened with Brazil, then played England, Russia and beat France (hosts) in the finals. So it was a good competition. Earlier in the year, we played in the finals, Turkey in the Asian Cup. We just try to give as much competition and express it from other regions of the world. So here, we have Tanzania, an African team. Then we are playing the host country India which is always huge. I do not know much about Malaysia. And every time we have played South Korea they have always been a very strong team.
Q: What is your football philosophy?
JH: Play good, attractive football. Try and develop these players so that they can one day make it to the World Cup, senior team.
Q: Can you detail in what went through your first training session here?
JH: Rusty. We had a long, long travel to get here. Longest that these guys ever had, even for the support staff. We travel all over the world. So we really were just trying to get these guys out. Check out the cobwebs out of their head, out of their legs. Get them to really a good place, both physically and mentally, so that we can really prepare tomorrow and have a good game on Sunday against Tanzania.
Q: (prodding further) But if you could tell us what exactly went through the session?
JH: It was a very basic session. Our strength and conditioning coach had the core of it. Try and recall the activation. We had a simple ball possession, a 9 x 9 +2 game.
Q: What is your impression on the infrastructure at a venue which would play host to the 5-nation tourney?
JH: It is a nice stadium, a huge field. It is a new surface to us and we will try to be in touch with it. We will see to the grass as well, the surface in general.
Q: What are the immediate goals with respect to this particular team?
JH: We will take it one game at a time. See if we can beat Tanzania and see if we can come back with a victory against India. It is always tough playing against the home nation.
Q: What is the road map ahead?
JH: After this tourney, we play an international tourney in Mexico in August. We bring these guys back to the residency. Then we start preparations for a couple of different trips after which we prepare for the qualifications for the U-17 World Cup (November 2017, India) and hopefully we can come back here for the real thing.
Q: Tell us about the contingent that you have brought to Goa for the tourney.
JH: The Indian Federation (AIFF) has set the roster for 23 players, and we have three goalkeepers, six forwards, six midfielders and eight defenders to make up the numbers. Besides this, we have our support staff, I have two assistants (coaches), two physios, two administrators, a team doctor and a videographer.
