BENAULIM: India U-17 coach Luis Norton de Matos expressed happiness over the ongoing practices ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup set to begin in October.
“I’m very satisfied and happy with the progress of the team. These five weeks were very important to start to understand each player and the way they can answer to my proposal of training,” Matos said.
He said he was satisfied with the team’s preparations and the way the players were responding to the training, “I’m very satisfied because we found new players also and there is more equilibrium and more coherence in the team. We have more options because the second line up is very strong and they are more close to the imaginary first team.”
With a very strong line up and equally strong players on the bench coach Matos said, “Now, I have doubts about when I have to decide it won’t be easy because we have two players in each position and in some position there are three-four players that we can decide to be in the first team. If we must play the World Cup tomorrow and have 22 players, then we must eliminate four players. It is difficult now but the team has been very good.”
“We watch all the players play at least three-four times for forty five minutes and I’m very sure that the options that I made for this first step is not definitive because until September it’s open and the group is open.
We can pick someone and in the next step also very important is that in Europe, the players will now have new contact with a different kind of football which is much more difficult and I want these players have the same behaviour and attitude that they have until now,” he added.
The players are quite confident however Matos feels that testing the limits is always a better thing to do, “In Goa, they are very confident and I want to watch the players in another ambience. Another opposition and the five Portuguese teams that we are going to meet are very strong and I can have a better idea about the personality and the way of play of the collective and the individuals of course.
“For me, the more difficult the opposition, the better it is for the team in this moment because there are no pressures of points, there are no pressures of qualifying, no pressure of media.
If you win 5-0 or 6-0, then it is easy and perhaps there comes a sensation to the coach and the players that it is easy. I want the players always in competition with themselves and think I must do better. If you lose the first game 3-1, we want the next game we don’t want to make a draw or losing. I want that this difference is made close in each game,” he said.
The coach has gone through videos of previous matches and identified the mistakes the players committed in terms of their positional sense, dealing with crosses etc and insisted that corrective measures had to be taken in order to avoid repeating these mistakes.
“We have seven games in Mumbai and Pune. It is good for make more solid our way of playing. But we know that when we play in Europe, it will be much much more difficult to play against these teams,” he said
“We play against Saligao, Sporting Goa, Cavelossim senior teams. But for me, it is better when you win than to lose. From the teams we played against, no player can come directly into the national team. The seven players that I saw immediately are from Minerva.”
When asked if he thinks that if there are no suitable players in Goa he promptly replied, “Perhaps there are players from Goa. But I have no time to go and watch any competitions to find these players. I trust in the staff of the national team that bring me the players or better players who they think are important for our team.”
The coach conducts training that has a lot of intensity, concentration, focus, organization. Small burst of maximum intensity of 3-4 minutes, players are starting to imbibe the ideas of the coach.
This team has an aerobic resistance which focuses on both offense and defence. The coach also emphasizes on playing in lines and formation that does not afford space to opponents. The team have been working and will continue to work on the physical discipline, tactical discipline and mental discipline. Intelligence is the most important quality.
Transfer of ideas and training choosing weaker teams
“This is football today. You make a run of 60 metres and you lose the ball, you must make 40 metres back. These kind of small small efforts.”
“If you tell me that the World Cup is in 15 days, I say that we are not prepared. But in seven months, we are gonna be prepared.”
Two players injured, something for the future
Our focus as coaches is to prepare the team for the World Cup and prepare the team for the future because there is a future after the World Cup.
Before football players, they are human beings. In football, I think always that If I only know to speak about football, then I’m a bad coach. And I need to bring all the experience of life. You have a father, mother, you have brothers and sisters. You go to the cinema and in life there are a lot of experience. And you must bring your experience.
Father-child attitude
“I can be aggressive but I don’t go to fight with the player or call him stupid because I want respect and I don’t want them to fear me. As a father with my children, they respect me and not fear me because they can talk to me. If you lie to me then the confidence is gone but if you give me the truth like you tell me coach, I’m very tired. I say rest one day and when they come back, they train very well.”
Wins against Myanmar, it is important for the Federation and Indian football.
About winning the World Cup
I’m very realist and I don’t make illusions. I can be a dreamer and in all games, I feel that there is a possibility to win even if it is 1%.
This team is fantastic for their level. These players have played a lot of international games and have been together for two years and they are going to play in a World Cup. They are the stars of the future. There are a lot of players who can become an example for the rest of the country. And young players should be able to recognize them and think I want to play with him, go to Portugal on Sunday.
