Manolo Marquez's vision to elevate Indian football

Manolo Marquez has taken over the reins of the Indian national football team.

The newly appointed manager, on his first official interaction, said that his primary goal with the national team is to elevate the overall level of Indian Football.

The manager, on Sunday, shared light on various issues surrounding the Indian football, from the challenges of balancing club and national team duties to his vision for the future of Indian football.

Marquez believes that Indian players are on an upward trajectory and with focused effort, the team can qualify for the Asian Cup.

On balancing club and national roles simultaneously

Manolo began by addressing the concerns surrounding the potential conflict of interest between coaching a club and the national side.

The Spaniard acknowledged that the situation may sound uncommon but is not unprecedented and cited many examples that have happened around the globe.

“It's true that it's not very normal. But finally, they are two different situations because they are not playing in the same moment. The national team plays only when there is a break in ISL.” added Manolo.

“Finally, both jobs are about professionalism and you should not have any doubt about it because we will work very hard, for both sides.”

He also acknowledged the challenging task of assembling the best possible eleven for the first international break in between a hectic ISL season and added that he is in constant communication regarding the same. While the clubs and the players will be in full swing in December with the next ISL season, Manolo aims to start the best possible eleven for the upcoming friendlies.

“We are in contact with most of the clubs. We need to know about the injuries etc, especially in October. We will monitor players, injuries if any, and we will send the best 11 players for sure in the first game,” Manolo added.

Filling the void left by Chhetri

Speakaing about Sunil Chhetri, Manolo drew parallels with a similar situation that occurred in Spanish football when in 2007, the Spanish manager Luiz Aragonés omitted the Spanish star Raúl from his squad.

Even though Luiz was widely criticized, Spain went on to win multiple Euros and then the World Cup.

“Even though it’s not the same with Sunil because he announced his retirement,” Monolo added that Sunil will serve as an inspiration for the younger generations and drew parallels with the victory of Neeraj Chopra in the Olympic Games.

“Maybe the kids in the future will be throwing javelin in India because Neeraj Chopra is getting very good results in this sport. You have to achieve something to grow, in this case in football.”

The coach emphasized the need to identify and nurture young strikers, citing the examples of the signings he did for FC Goa.

However, he cautioned against placing immediate expectations from the players. Marquez expressed confidence in finding suitable strikers within the domestic league and also hinted at a potential two-striker solution for the national team.

Long term goals

Now that India failed to qualify for the third level Asian Qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup, Manolo highlighted that his primary goal will be to elevate the overall level of Indian football rather than focusing on the specific tournament outcomes.

He stressed the need for a united approach from all stakeholders involved to take Indian football to the next level.

He also emphasized the need to nurture young talents for the overall development of Indian football.

“We need to develop not only the main team players, and by development I don't mean getting good results immediately. We should also develop the U-19 and U-17 sides, and the main goal of these sides is to send good players to the national team.” Manolo added.

Manolo also added the importance of mentality among the Indian players. He believes even though technique and skills are crucial aspects, a strong mental approach is essential for success

“If you start one game and you are losing two zero in the minute 20, you have 70 minutes to turn the score. This is the way how the head should work while playing football. In the national team, theoretically, we play the best players in the country. If the mentality is correct, we will get good things and good results.” concluded Manolo.