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The All India Football Federation (AIFF) finally made the appointment of coach Igor Stimac official on Wednesday, recruiting him on a two-year contract.
The Croatian takes over from Englishman Stephen Constantine, who quit following India's unceremonious exit from the Asian Cup 2019 in January.
Stimac had a stellar playing career for Croatia as a defender, finishing third in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He also won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship with Yugoslavia in Chile.
Stimac has previously coached the Croatian national team from 2013-14, guiding them into the final stages of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. However, Stimac's record as a coach has not been that splendid of late. He had spells which turned sour with Sepahan SC (Iran) and Al-Shahania (Qatar) before being appointed the India coach.
During his tenure as the Croatia coach, Stimac handed debut to the likes of Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea winger on loan from Real Madrid), Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt forward), Alen Halilovic (Standard Liège midfielder on loan from Inter Milan) and Ivan Perisic (Inter winger).
Stimac's predecessor Constantine too promoted the youth to a great extent, hand about 49 debuts to Indians from 2015-2019. However, the Englishman was often criticised for his selections and was called out for ignoring in-form players especially during the later stage of his stint.
This year, the Indian national team will play in the King's Cup in Thailand from June 5-8, the Intercontinental Cup from July 7-17 and then the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in September. Stimac will be expected to be pragmatic in his approach and will certainly call up a few deserving players that Constantine was accused of ignoring.
Here are three of those players who deserve to be called up:
#3 Brandon Fernandes (FC Goa)
There's no dearth of flashy wingers in India and Brandon Fernandes was one of those unlucky players not to have been called up by the previous coach.
A mainstay at FC Goa, Fernandes reached the final of the Indian Super League (ISL), losing narrowly to Bengaluru FC in the summit clash. The team made amends by lifting the Super Cup the very next month with Fernandes' performances in both these tournaments receiving plaudits from fans and experts.
The record of 3 goals and 4 assists in the ISL hides the contribution Fernandes has made to the side, which scored the most number of goals in the tournament at 41. Fernandes was always a threat on the left wing and his link-up play with the ISL golden boot winner Ferran Corominas made Goa a dangerous force in Indian Football.
Stimac, who claims to have followed the ISL a lot, may just be tempted to call him up for the King's Cup tournament.
#2 Michael Soosairaj (Jamshedpur FC/soon to become an ATK player)
Michael Soosairaj was one of the breakthrough players from this ISL season. The Tamil Nadu native joined Jamshedpur FC after his individual brilliance helped Chennai City FC avoid relegation in the 2017-18 season, where he was also named the Best Midfielder of the I-League.
At Jamshedpur, Soosairaj didn't disappoint. His technical play at the left channel was quite impressive and he showed that he's an acute attacker with the 4 goals that he scored for JFC in 14 appearances. Soosairaj loves to break in from the left flank to set up the play for his attackers and his pace is just what the national team needs for the upcoming tournaments this year.
His display for Jamshedpur caught the eye of the scouts at ATK, who are all set to sign him for the 2019-20 season. The Kolkata side have already shown tremendous faith in Soosairaj by triggering the release clause of Rs 90 lakh that was set by Jamshedpur.
Yet, Constantine deemed the 24-year-old Soosairaj unfit for the national team. Let's hope Stimac has a different opinion.
#1 Rahul Bheke (Bengaluru FC)
No player's omission has led to more outrage among the Indian football fans than that of Rahul Bheke, Bengaluru FC's versatile defender.
Constantine has time and again snubbed Bheke despite the 28-year-old's envious record for the Blues in their title-winning season.
Thinking from Constantine's perspective, the Englishman probably had his core set for the Asian Cup and did not want to alter his main philosophy right before an important tournament.
However, by not even calling him up to the national camp, Constantine gave Bheke no chance of proving that he can be a player that can fit into the Englishman's style. Forget making the national camp, Constantine deemed Bheke unfit to even make the top-50 players of the country.
Bheke, who can play at any position in the defence, could have filled in for the injured Anas Edathodika at the central defence in India's final group game against Bahrain.
When India were set to play a friendly against Jordan in November 2018, Bheke had earned the Player of the Month award. He played all but one match for Bengaluru FC, scoring 3 goals and making one assist.
It's the defensive record that could have easily earned Bheke a place in the national team. His record of 43 tackles, 26 interceptions, 96 clearances and 31 blocks was far ahead of any of his rivals. The real game-changer is the set-piece threat that Bheke poses.
But we don't know on what basis Constantine denied him a call-up.
Constant rejections could hurt anyone but Bheke took them in his stride. Two months after the Asian Cup, Bheke scored a winner that helped Bengaluru FC win the ISL. Right after the final, India skipper Sunil Chhetri commented that it was a shame Bheke had still not played for India and he hoped that the decision makers were listening.
Let's leave it to Stimac to reward this unsung hero with a national team cap.
