THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

Koevermans expecting nothing less than the Nehru Cup

Wim Koevermans

Indian national team coach Wim Koevermans is expecting nothing less than silverware in his first appointment with the Indian national team. The Indian team will play the 2012 Nehru Cup which is scheduled to kick-off in New Delhi on August 22.

The Dutchman conducted his first training session with the Indian team at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Friday after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was forced to shift the camp from Noida to Bangalore due to heavy rainfalls. The session lasted for about three hours and Koevermans was satisfied about the conditions at the Bangalore Football Stadium.

“It is interesting. The artificial turf here is really good and I don’t mind these rains. The conditions here are really good for our preparations,” Koevermans told the media after the training session. “There are so many teams that play on artificial pitches and have no problems. The quality of artificial pitches are top class these days so we are quite happy with the conditions.”

“It was a very interesting session, am perfectly happy with the boys. It is my second session with them and it was good,” the Dutchman continued. “We started off the second session of our preparations hard and I demand a lot from the boys.”

Talking about his expectations for the upcoming Nehru Cup, Koevermans stated: “Our goal is to win the Nehru Cup!”

Meanwhile, the AIFF is planning to lodge a complaint with FIFA and the CAS after Kenya pulled out of the 2012 Nehru Cup. Nepal are most likely to replace the Africans after they opted to play an international friendly match against Jamaica instead of participating in the Nehru Cup.