India coach Colaco to put ‘best foot forward’

The coming weeks would be nothing less than a test of fire for the newly appointed India coach Armando Colaco. The reigns are back with a home coach after Briton Bob Houghton was fired by the All India Football Federation following India’s Asian Cup debacle. With just a little over a week remaining for India’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers against UAE, it would be interesting to see how the boys respond to Colaco, the long-serving coach with top flight club DempoThe Indian side that has landed in Doha, after settling for a 1-1 draw with a lowly placed Maldives few days back, will play two friendlies – one with hosts Qatar on Sunday and the other with Kazakhstan.According to Colaco, both these friendlies would benefit his team before the big games. “Qatar is a highly ranked team and plays with a style similar to that of the UAE. India has a strong friendly relationship with Qatar and it was great of them to provide us with this opportunity,” Colaco said.“The clash with Kazakhstan will also be tough; they are also a strong team. What we are looking forward to is to get our tactics right,” said Colaco, who has been appointed coach for the next four months.Even for the best of coaches in the world, a four-month period wouldn’t be enough to get the desired results, but Colaco cleared the air saying that it was not the AIFF’s but his own decision to opt for a short term role.“I have prior commitments with my club Dempo as well and I will have sort that out if I have to continue with the Indian team. Yes, it has been just three weeks but I will try my level best to put my best foot forward,” said Colaco, who stamped his authority by sidelining senior pros Bhaichung Bhutia and Rennedy Singh after his appointment.“I have nothing against Bhutia or Singh nor have I said they wouldn’t be considered at all. It was good on the part of Bhutia to come up with a statement that he will regain fitness. All I wanted was to have a set of players who are fit and deserving to be there.”Colaco strongly believes in bringing in the youth early and has inducted six players. He has picked players such as Chirag United’s Lalkamal Bhowmick along with Raju Gaekwad and Jewel Raja of Indian Arrows, who has put up some strong performances in the I-League. “The only way these young boys can improve is by giving them exposure and the earlier we do it, the better. Yes, they lack experience but this is the only way they can grow. I will try to give them opportunities in these friendlies but we are in the final stages of getting the right combination and I have to keep all that in mind as well,” reasoned Colaco.UAE, currently 111th in the FIFA World rankings played India last in a friendly in November 2010, winning 5-0. However, India too has had success against UAE beating them on April 8, 2001 in Bangalore 1-0 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier.“We have been watching the videos of UAE matches and after these friendlies I’m sure we will be well prepared for that clash. We played really well against the Maldives. Climax, Jeje, Chhetri got chances but they didn’t score. “They created so many chances and that was good. We held well and passed well. If they can do all this in a short span of time, I’m sure they can do wonders in the long run.”Colaco is also looking forward to the historic and high profile three-match series against Pakistan in the UK.“It would be an interesting series for both nations and given the Indian and Pakistani population there, it would be an absorbing one. It can do wonders to promote this sport in both countries. However, as of now, the focus is on the match against UAE.”