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November 2004

As we come to our last world cup qualifier against Oman there has as usual been a great deal of controversy surrounding the national team and of course yours truly. For the record my only concern is and will always be the team and the players who make up the team. Unlike many in India I have no hidden agenda and am not interested in the politics which seem to revolve around everything that goes on in India.

In our preparation for the Kuwait match we of course had players being forced to play in a local tournament even though the National camp was going on! Needless to say some key players would be tired and possibly injured prior to the game for the national team. Some players had to play for there club eight hours after arriving from Kuwait! And when you consider that the players had travelled all night it was inevitable that someone would get hurt and Deepak Mondal the captain and our best defender was ruled out of the game against Kuwait. India’s win 3-2 against Kuwait will go down as a fantastic win for Indian football. It was a great achievement by any means but when you combine that without 5 main players it is all the more reason for optimism in the Indian camp, only in India the result was not given its dues! Thanks in part to the lack of interest or should I say to the need of some to criticise there own countrymen! Even some of the Indian coaches could not bring themselves to congratulate their players who had played in the game instead decided to say that Kuwait didn’t play with a full team!!! Amazing but true.

After yet another amazing result we drew 0-0 away with Oman in the last of our WCQ but the hype about whether I remain as national coach or not overshadowed the team’s arrival back to Delhi in fact according to the media sources I was to be removed the morning after the game. I must say at this point that the AIFF have not said anything to me regarding this matter so as I write this am still in the job. The boys were yet again up to the job and though Oman had possession for long periods of the game the tenacity with which our lads defended was heroic!

There are so many players who gave everything and more that it would be unfair of me to single out any one individual they were all heroes on the night.

It would seem that my time here in India is coming to end officially my contract is up in June but with all the speculation surrounding my future I would like to put the record straight as far as I am concerned.
I have had an amazing time with regards to results and it has been a great experience in all respects so if I have been in charge for the last time then what a couple of last results. There are some in India who would try and discredit the results in the last three years but my record speaks for itself and here it is.

Took charge June 15 2002 Indian national team had not played for 18 months.

Won the LG Cup beating the Vietnam National Team 3-2 after coming back from 0-2 down, India’s first trophy outside the region in 32 years!

Missed qualifying to the last eight in the Asian Games in Busan S Korea by the odd goal beating Turkmenistan 3-1 Bangladesh 3-0 before going down 0-2 to China.

In international friendly games we have one or two great results:
Jamaica 0-0         Uzbekistan 2-0         Kuwait 3-2

Indian U18 for the first time participates in the Milk Cup in N Ireland beating Dynamo Kiev 2-1and other wins against Kilmarnock and Co Antrim.

Indian U18 wins the Ian Rush Trophy beating Botofogo of Brazil 3-0 in the final.

Senior Team wins Silver Medal winners in the Afro Asian Games. Beating Zimbabwe 5-3 and Rwanda 3-1 on the way to the final. Losing to a 90th minute goal against Uzbekistan.

Senior Team Third in the SAF Cup without Baichiung Bhutia and four first eleven players and 3 days to prepare.

Silver Medal winners in the SAF Games with an U20 team.

Silver Medal winners in the BIMST Cup in Thailand U19

U17 and U19 both qualify for the AFC Youth Championships 2004

Instrumental in setting up the annual Sports medicine Camp.

Secured the sponsorship with Adidas and helped design the current national team jersey.

Helped to raise the profile of Indian football in all areas.

Conducted several Coach Education courses for Indian coaches.

I have coached all the National teams at one time or another in my time here.
Seniors, U23, U20, U18-17 U14.

It must also be said that we now have around 6-8 players in the senior side who have developed and come on from those junior teams most notably Habibour Rhaman , Dedabrat Roy, Jerry Zirsanga , Gourmangi Singh, Vimal Pariyar, Syed Rahim Nabi, Gurjinder Singh, Rocus Lamare and there are a few more coming.

I also helped develop several other players who were not playing first eleven for their clubs and are now senior internationals.

Vinu Jose, Climax Lawrence, Samir Naik, Abhishek Yadav to name but a few.

Personally I think the players have been absolutely magnificent for me and I challenge anyone to say otherwise - our achievements are there for all to see and I thank them.

I would also like to say a big thank you to all the Indians and others who have emailed me over the last three years and especially in the last few months with your kind support it is always appreciated and again Thank you.

Until next time,

See you at the Far Post