JOVITO LOPES
jovito@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The AIFF will hold selection trials to be conducted zone-wise to select players for the forthcoming SAFF Under-16 championship in September, with the scouting process being held zone-wise, and Goa coming under the West Zone.
The scouting process will identify the main squad that will represent India in the championship. The country has been divided into five regions – North, South, East and North East combined, West, and Central and North combined.
The AIFF’s Technical Committee met today under the chairmanship of former India captain IM Vijayan. Pinky Bompal Magar, Climax Lawrence, Arun Malhotra, Harjinder Singh and Eugeneson Lyngdoh were present alongwith AIFF Chief Technical Officer Vincent Subramaniam and Technical Director Syed Sabir Pasha.
The selection will be overseen by two coaches assigned to each zone.They will finally identify 30 players in each zone and trials will be held in five centres. Thereafter, 18 players will be selected from the five zones and brought into camp in Bhubaneswar in June. After intensive trials and trial matches in Bhubaneshwar, the overall squad will be shortened, so as to build the team for the main event.
Meanwhile, the Technical Committee also recommended a new coach education system, which would come into force from July 1. The new coach education module will cover the B, C, and D License modules teaching the student coaches about football at the junior or amateur levels. The A and Pro License attendees will get more detailed training on professional coaching.
The Blue Cubs, an elite grassroots programme to spread the beautiful game across the country, will undergo certain modifications pertaining to the sizes of the playing fields and the composition of the teams for certain age groups, in order to better develop technical skills amongst the youth players.
The Elite Blue Cubs that come through the Grassroots system will play in a 5v5 format, and then progress to the Under-13 level, where they will get to play 7v7 football, with two halves of 25 minutes each. The format further increases the game to a 9v9 format for the Under-15s, with the time being increased to 35 minutes a half. Finally, the youth players will get to play in 11v11 competitions at the Under-17 level, with two halves of 40 minutes each.
When contacted, Climax stated that Goa players may have to report at Cooperage ground in Mumbai and that Goa clubs may have to identify the players. The selection details are awaited he added.
