Stephen Constantine, who is expected to arrive in New Delhi later this month to take charge of the Indian national football team for the second time in his nomadic coaching career, is banking on his prior experience in the country to get cracking immediately.
“Getting to understand the culture, mentality and how things are done on and off the pitch are the biggest challenges that a coach faces in India,” Constantine said in an email interview on Saturday.
“Fortunately, I don’t have that problem. India has potential and talent. But we are at this position (171 in the world) for a reason. I would like us to break into the top 100 and for that we need to do more to unearth hidden talent.”
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He recently achieved remarkable success with the Rwanda national side, guiding the African nation to the 68th spot in the FIFA rankings. He, however, considers the Indian job to be a bigger challenge.
“India is a higher profile job: no disrespect to Rwanda. I think the world interest in Indian football, coupled with my history (here) drew me back,” he said.
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“I have tried to keep up-to-date with (Indian football) and India has taken some good steps forward. Praful Patel (AIFF President) has brought a sense of professionalism to the AIFF and that needs to be the way forward. Attention to details and correct implementation of ideas and proposals are things we must do.”
Constantine, who will also be in charge of the under-23 team, had a mixed tenure during his earlier stint in India between 2002 and 2005, a period, which he terms, a success.
“Indian youth teams qualified to age group finals, we won the Ian Rush Trophy,” he said. “We beat Kuwait in Kuwait, drew with Jamaica and Oman and did quite well in the Asian Games.
“While we did lose badly to both Japan and Oman, I think we did well overall. My stint was quite successful considering the facilities and the state of Indian football. I am very proud of those players and what we achieved,” he said.