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The second season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) is all set for the big kick off in less than a week’s time from now and the second coming promises to be bigger and better. But there were concerns in the air that the euphoria of the ISL may hamper performance of the Indian national teams as some of the ISL franchises may not be willing to let their players go on national duty as it would mean the teams would suffer in their absence.
Due to this very issue, the scheduling of the ISL had received criticism from the Indian football faithful. But revelations made by various clubs during the ISL Media Day in Mumbai on Saturday went a long way in easing the fears and concerns of the Indian football fan.
There seemed to be a consensus among all the franchises regarding this issue and it came out that there will be no hindrance or objection from any teams to letting their players play for their national team.
Clubs willing to release players for international duty
Kerala Blasters manager Peter Taylor was quick to highlight the honour and the importance of playing for one’s country and felt it is something which nobody in the world be deprived of.
“It is a great honor to play for your country and we are glad three of our players have that honour. Missing them will hurt us, but we will fully co-operate with the national team as we don’t want our players to miss out on that experience”, the former England U-21 manager said.
Taylor’s thoughts were echoed by fellow compatriot David Platt who took up the managerial reigns of FC Pune City for season two. “I feel every player wants to play for the national team and we have some really good Indian players.
“I think they will greatly add to the Indian squad and we are confident of coping well in their absence”, said the former Manchester City assistant.
Chennaiyin FC’s Marco Materazzi, a World Cup winner in his playing days, knows all too well what playing for the national teams means and he too was in favour of letting his players go to play for India.
“As a player I always wanted to play for Italy even if my club didn’t want me to. So I can understand that the Indian National team coach wants his best players. It will be difficult for us without these players, but if it’s a really important game, I will let them go,” said the Italian.
Materazzi’s opponent in the 2006 World Cup final, Nicolas Anelka, who is Mumbai City FC’s marquee player and manager, said he had planned his team keeping in mind the schedule of the national team.
“We are going to miss Sunil [Chhetri] and other players for quite a few matches. So we have brought in a number of quality players who could fill in those positions. We may find it hard to accommodate all the players when Sunil is with us, but without him they will come in handy,” said the former French international.
Switching between ISL and the national team will be a real challenge for the Indian players. But with so many of the world’s highly experienced football players with them in their respective franchises, the Indian players could do very well with a piece of advice.
