With the Indian national team landing in Khujand for the international friendly against Tajikistan, national coach Wim Koevermans stays busy preparing for the match.

In an exclusive interview with AIFF Media, Koevermans speaks about the significance of the international friendly, the adaptability process, the importance of playing throughout the season and much more.

INTERVIEW

The national team hasn’t played for a long duration. What is the significance of the international friendly against Tajikistan?
Unfortunately our exposure tour in June got cancelled. The tour did look nice as there was a match each against Pakistan and Bangladesh as there was a match against England ‘C’. It would have been a nice experience to play in front of NRIs and on good pitches.
Since taking over as India’s national coach my priority has been to play as many international friendlies as possible as you need the experience to get better. Playing against Tajikistan will be another experience for the boys and I can tell you, they are a very tough side.

You have roped in some new faces into the squad. Mama comes back after 2004, so does Dika after the SAFF Championship in 2011. Tell us more about it.
They may be new faces in the team but they are not new to me. They were there in the camp in Pune prior to the AFC Challenge Cup – Malsawmtluanga, Arnab (Mondal), Sandesh (Jhingan). Unfortunately, some of them had to be left out as they picked up injuries. So they are not new to me, just that they would be new in the set-up.
It will obviously be interesting to see how they behave and adapt. At the same time, you cannot forget the experienced players.
You may be prompted to think that someone playing well in the league would be an instant hit at the international front. But it’s not the case. International matches are of much higher level than any domestic league match as you play against the best players of that respective country. So you have to draft players slowly into your squad. You can never hurry into it.

You have selected a squad of 20 for the international friendly. With the SAFF Championship also knocking at the door, what are your plans?
We had to leave some players out because of their lack of training time with their respective clubs. However, I can bring in everybody into the preparatory camp for the SAFF Championship in Bangalore as I will have more time to look at them. We will have enough training sessions to focus on them. At the moment, almost everyone is practicing hard and I only hope they maintain a decent level of fitness prior to joining the camp in Bangalore.
I hope the players get attached with a club as soon as possible and play throughout the season to be considered for the national team. You need to understand the decision of leaving out some players benefits them in the longer run – we don’t want them to get injured at the moment. After all, it’s an international friendly, the intensity of which is much higher.

Have you had a look at Tajikistan?
I have seen videos of them. But they have a new coach. So you never know – their style of play may change.
But there’s no doubt they are a very strong side. But it’s about playing such strong sides that you learn a lot. You still go back to the Nehru Cup final where we beat Cameroon and the experience of playing such a quality side was just incredible. Such matches make you realise that you need to win such games if you aim to go up higher. We are looking for a good match.

(Interview & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)