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There has been a lot of speculation about who is going to be the Indian National Team coach since Wim Koevermans retired. Wim Koevermans had a mediocre time with the Indian National Team and a bit of ups and downs. He won the Nehru cup in 2012, which was his best with the Indian Team. Later, he stepped down after the National team lost 2-3 to Palestine.
Here is a look at the candidates and what they offer for the National job:
Stephen Constantine
Since Koevermans’ resignation, many managers have been rumoured to take over the team. There are rumours that Stephen Constantine has been named as the manager of the Indian National team.
The English born, Cyprian coach already did a decent job with the Indian national team from 2002 to 2005. He almost led them to the quarterfinals in the 2004 Asian Games in South Korea. Apart from this, India won the LG Cup defeating Vietnam in the finals.
In the first ever Afro – Asian cup, India upset Zimbabwe who were 85 places above them in the rankings and won the silver medal, losing 1-0 to Uzbekistan in the finals. But inspite of all these achievements, India failed to qualify for the 2004 Asian Cup.
Constantine’s biggest individual achievement as manager came in November, 2003 when he was named as Asia’s Manager of the Month by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Apart from coaching India, he has coached several other International teams like Rwanda, Nepal, Malawi and Sudan.
With Nepal he won an unprecedented silver medal in the South Asian Games. He was recognised by Nepal and was awarded Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Baahu which is the highest award that is given to a foreigner in Nepal. Other than the national teams, he has coached a few clubs like Millwall FC, Apollon Smyrni, Assistant director at Bournemouth etc.
Ricki Herbert
Besides Constantine, Ricki Herbert was also shortlisted for the job. Herbert is the former manager of New Zealand national team.
New Zealand was ranked 156 when Rickie took over the job as the head coach. He took them to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa which was their second time in World Cup history. Also, New Zealand were the only team in the entire competition to remain unbeaten, including a famous 1-1 draw with the then defending champions, Italy.
Ricki Herbert hails from New Zealand and was in the New Zealand squad which qualified for its maiden World Cup in 1982, Spain. Apart from managing New Zealand, he has had experiences with Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Knights and New Zealand U-17 teams. Recently he managed Northeast United FC in the Indian Super League.
Northeast United was considered minnows of the tournament as they had the least experienced squad in the tournament. They had many young players from the region like Durga Boro, Aiborlang Khongjee, Robin Gurung and Alen Deory. They also had a few marquee players like Johan Capdevilla, Koke and Alexander Tzorvas.
But they failed to qualify for the top four, finishing last in the tournament and falling short of four points from qualification. On the bright side, Northeast United FC played some enthralling football with good attacking prowess, impressing their fans in the tournament and even upset Kerala Blasters in their very first game at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Guwahati.
Herbert is known for playing attacking football. Being a defender in his playing days, he prefers counter attacking to possessive style of play. So this style of play that Rickie prefers might suit the Indian Team as we have some good sturdy defenders and pacey wingers.
As mentioned earlier, he became the manager of the New Zealand national team when they were ranked 156. Rickie took them to the World Cup finals in 2010 (South Africa) and the team jumped a staggering 108 places in the rankings, finishing 48th in overall rankings after the tournament concluded.
Rickie Herbert stepped down as the manager of New Zealand football team after they failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. New Zealand were thrashed 9-3 on aggregate by the Mexicans. But nevertheless they reached the play-offs and lost to a very good team.
Similarities between the Indian and the New Zealand team of six years ago
The Indian National team which is ranked 171 currently is in a similar position to the New Zealand football team that was 6 years ago. It needs some experienced management to manage them. Someone who has had a taste in different leagues and the World Cup like Rickie Herbert who has already done the job of taking a team that was ranked as low as India to the World Cup.
AIFF’s criteria states that the manager should have coached an International team as well as have had experience with Indian Football. Rickie Herbert has had quite an experience with Indian football, coaching Northeast United FC in the ISL. When it comes to familiarity with Indian football, Ricki Herbert might not have had as much experience as Constantine.
But on the International arena, Ricki has more credibility than Constantine. He knows what standards are expected to qualify for a major event like the World Cup unlike Constantine who has never coached a team or led one to a World Cup.
Every Indian dreams of a chance to see India participate in the Football World Cup. Seeing Ricki Herbert's achievements it is really exciting for any Indian and I, being a believer like the rest, feel it should have been Rickie Herbert.
It cannot be assured that Herbert would lead us to Russia 2018 but under Ricki, we have more chances of believing that we can make it to the World Cup.
