— Photo: Mahesh Harilal

Syed Nayeemuddin

KOLKATA: The triumph in the SAFF football championship in Pakistan should make the Indian players work harder for bigger challenges ahead, feels the National coach Syed Nayeemuddin. The new coach of the senior Indian side that won its first international trophy after three years said it is imperative for the players to adopt a professional approach.

"The players have the requisite talent, now it is time that they started thinking about how to raise their level of performance to challenge the bigger nations in the sport,'' he said after returning to the city on Tuesday.

The coach, who got his appointment with a cloaked directive of `perform or perish' from the national federation, AIFF, said he was relieved that the team could pull off a "great victory.'' Nayeem said that the triumph in Pakistan drove home the point that domestic coaches have the capability to deliver.

"It is time people started appreciating the utility of their own coaches,'' he said adding that the trophy realised a triumph of Indianness, both for the officials and the players.

"The boys were very positive in their approach and put the best of efforts against each of the opponents they faced,'' he said adding that the standard of the tournament was very high as all the SAARC nations are making rapid strides employing coaches from Europe.

This was the second occasion Nayeem had guided the national team to the title. But he rated the latest triumph over the last victory in 1997 saying that the "challenge was much stiffer than the previous occasion.''

Hopeful

He agreed that latest assignment was the biggest challenge in his coaching career and said he was hopeful the national federation would be extending his term till the next year's Asian Games in Doha.

Though the federation had initially said the coach's appointment was till the continental competition, it latter added that the performance of the team and the coach will be reviewed after the SAAF championship. "I am supposed to meet the Federation president Mr. (Priya Ranjan) Dasmunsi in the first week of January. And the next course of action will be clear only after that,'' he said.

Praise for defenders

Nayeemuddin said that the team played as a cohesive unit but had words of praise for defenders Mahesh Gawli, M. Suresh and N.S. Manju, midfielders Mehtab Hussain and Mehrajuddin Wadoo, goalkeeper Sandip Nandy. "A goalline save by Suresh during the match against Maldives was the turning point of the tournament,'' he said about the semifinal match that India won 1-0.

He said that preparations for the Asian Games need to be started at the earliest as a fresh set of players will be needed for the tournament, which allows only three players over the age of 23 in a team.

"We will have to chalk out a comprehensive plan which should include exposure trips for the probables to better soccer playing nations like China, Korea or even Africa,'' he said looking forward his second assignment as a coach.

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