Our chance of going beyond the group stage is small, says India U-17 coach

New Delhi, July 21
India Under-17 football team’s head coach, Luis Norton de Matos, has no hesitation in admitting that it would be a “real challenge” for the hosts to go beyond the group stage of the 24-nation FIFA U-17 World Cup, to be played in October. India have been drawn alongside the USA, Colombia and Ghana in Group A. Matos, however, sounded optimistic about his wards playing a “competitive and fearless” brand of football during the tournament.
Addressing a press conference here, the 63-year-old from Portugal emphasised on the need for the country’s sporting administrators to use the U-17 World Cup as a platform to develop a football culture in India and build a strong team for the future. Excerpts:
About India’s chances
Our possibilities are small but we have a winning mentality. It’s a huge challenge and a difficult task. After all, India has no history in world football. One needs to understand that if you play an Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian U-17 side, all those players have 10 years of competition experience. But we will give our cent percent. We are not going to play against extra-terrestrials; we are going to play against humans.
About India’s rivals
Ghana are the two-time champions. Columbia are one of the finest teams from South America, along with Brazil. And the USA will be extremely prepared. When the draw was announced, two players (Sanjeev Stalin and Dheeraj Singh) in my team came and told me “don’t worry sir, we will win”. I was very happy because that’s the way I always wanted to play the game.
About the preparations
The coming months will be tough because the players will have to concentrate hard. We are trying out a lot of formations, combinations and working out on how to react to different situations. For me, the most important aspect is when you lose the ball while attacking, you should be able to recover quickly to defend the counterattack. To keep the ball in play by looking to create passes is equally important. We have prepared very well in the last four-five months. We went to Europe for an exposure tour, played 25 friendly matches. We would be flying to Mexico to play in a tournament featuring Mexico, Chile, and Colombia in August. We would also be playing friendlies against Mali, Australia, and other countries leading up to the World Cup.
About the focus area
We have spent hours on playing in close quarters. The team has started playing more direct football now. Another important aspect is the mental focus. Indian players can play like Portuguese players — keeping the ball. Emotional intelligence is important and we must not forget that these are U-17 boys. Anxiety is one of the basic mental issues; as the head coach, I try to deal with it by guiding my players emotionally. I try to make them emotionally strong. I want to be their friend.
About coaching in India
People need to realise that it’s impossible for any coach in the world to change the scenario in India in five-six months. This World Cup is the beginning of the football project in India, not the end. The performance of these boys will give a perfect start to this project.
Lack of experience cost us match: Constantine
Doha: Head coach Stephen Constantine said lack of experience cost India’s U-23 team the match against Syria and hoped for a better show in the next game against Qatar at the AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers here tomorrow. “The boys played their heart out but eventually, lack of experience cost us the match,” he said. “Some of the boys might have had a good game but I believe this is a team game where everyone needs to perform and they’ve had a great team effort tonight. We’ll take it forward to the next game.” India lost 2-0 to Syria, while Qatar outplayed Turkmenistan 2-0 in their first match. “They (Qatar) look very quick at times. It’ll be a big challenge for us against them,” he said. “Playing an evening match at their home is really going to be advantageous for them.”