Picture courtesy: AIFF Media

Stephen Constantine preferred to hit the bush and not walk past it in his first official media interaction since taking over for the second time as the Head Coach of the Indian National Team.

“I am very excited to be here in India. There is a lot of work left but I promise you that I am up for it. I will do everything I can to improve us.”

Pointing to his tie which had the national colours, Constantine who had earlier coached India to win the LG Cup during his first stint in India in 2002 said, “This was handmade in Mumbai some 13 years back. I am happy to wear it again.”

Constantine’s first assignment for India is against Nepal on February 12 and 17 in Guwahati and Kathmandu respectively in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers – Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1.

“We will work hard to win those games. I can promise you that we will give everything on the field. Off course the matches will be difficult as Nepal is a nation with a tough mentality but if we work hard, we can increase our chances of success in those matches.”

Referring to a question, the national coach quipped: “I haven’t yet decided on my captain. I will work with my boys and then decide on my captain.”

Constantine also proposed a scouting network and declared that he “wanted to set up a scouting system”.

“My mission is to set-up a successful scouting network. I want to touch everything. I want my system to look at every State’s Leagues, National Level Tournaments, Universities. I am sure that there are hundreds of players who are capable of playing for India.”

Constantine also pointed out that things have bettered for India in terms of popularity after the conclusion of inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL).

“ISL has proved that Indian love football as much as they love their cricket. We need to take it from there and do justice to that. Indian players get to learn a lot from the experience of foreigners. For example training with the likes of Mikael Silvestre and others is an experience and a learning process in itself.”

“The publicity surrounding Indian football has increased. We need to cash in on that.”

Constantine also elaborated that he was happy to have his former captain, Shanmugam Venkatesh on board as the Assistant Coach for the National Team.

“Venky was with me from the start and he knows what I am like, the manner I play and what I want. I think we need to give our young coaches a chance. He is somebody who is willing to learn and is energetic. We will give him a shot and see what happens.”

The Englishman also proposed a new idea of multi-national passports that could see players of Indian origin play for the National Team.

“I want players who love their country. There are a lot of players who are playing in foreign leagues at the moment. I would suggest for a multi-national passport for such players. It’s just an idea, but I would like if it can be made possible because everybody else is doing it.”

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)