You need to play attractive football that gets people to the stands: India national football coach Igor Stimac

Days after the Indian national football team concluded a nine-game run at home, which saw them stay unbeaten against the likes of Kuwait and Lebanon, Indian head coach Igor Stimac has landed back in Croatia. Stimac spoke to the Indian Express on this successful stint for the national team and what it has taken to display the quality of football and fitness shown the team. You’ve had to face different kinds of criticism since your tenure began in 2019. How have these last two months been?
Criticism has its positives. I understand that throughout the year, people could only see one piece of the puzzle which we were working on. It was difficult for people on the outside to truly understand. Making radical changes in football is a process that needs to be done carefully. There will be suffering. I called for everyone to stay united and that I would open the door of world football for you. We opened the door for India to see what can be done if the national team is given enough time to prepare and face challenges.

ONE TEAM. ONE NATION 💙🇮🇳
We achieved what we set out for at the beginning of a 7 week camp. 2 tournaments 2 trophies 🏆🏆 Unbeaten in both competitions. These players deserve all of your love and support. India is proud of you boys 👏🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/zb05mU0ayB
— Igor Štimac (@stimac_igor) July 7, 2023
In 2019, you said Indian midfielders had various technical issues. Have your views changed? If yes, in what way?
When we arrived in India, we noticed a few problems in the league. It was a lack of pace, a lack of intensity in the league. It was comfortable football and international football needs a competitive league. It was football that was misleading you. Obviously, we were careful about selecting players for the national team.
Jeakson Singh for example, is underrated. He has far been the best player of the Indian national team in the last couple of months. Great stamina, great movement, and an understanding of the game and what decisions to take when. His role with the national team is far more different to what he is doing with Kerala. His progressive passing is higher for the national team and his mindset is a lot more attacking.
We saw some intense pressing at the higher end of the pitch at the SAFF Championships. How crucial was it to lift the fitness of this team to play that way?
To have this approach in football you need amazing endurance. That’s why we needed the long camp. When I started, I said that we want to ‘awaken the sleeping giant’. But how are you going to do that? Are you going to do it defending in front of your goal?

This duo 💙@stimac_igor 💪🏽 Mahesh Gawali#KUWIND ⚔️ #SAFFChampionship2023 🏆 #IndianFootball ⚽️ #BlueTigers 🐯 pic.twitter.com/TY3wGS5Lvg
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 5, 2023
You need to play attractive football that gets people to the stands. The decision to play a certain way was easy but to get there required time. Through the last couple of months, we were the only team whose players were not falling down and looking for a break. We didn’t face any injuries and the players didn’t suffer from any cramps. Whatever I do on the pitch, needs to be backed up the fitness of the players. I need time to get the players’ fitness to a point where they can play the football, I need them to. It cannot be done in five days.
How long does it take to bridge the gap for a player coming from their club to the national team to play the way you want them to play?
That gap when they need to switch on from club duties to international football takes a minimum 7-8 days. For our players it takes anywhere from a week to maybe 10 days for them to understand that there are no foreign players in the team. We lose this period every time in every camp.
Now they’ll be back to working with their respective coaches – many with different philosophies. Many of them will play different positions from their national teams. And if there isn’t intensity, their fitness will go down. Then when they come here, they are starting from scratch. In Thailand (for the Kings Cup), it might be the same again, depending on the duration of the camps we get to work together.
In a scenario like that, with the Asian Cup coming, what’s the messaging that you send to the players?
We are going to proudly represent India. But then don’t expect miracles. In four years, I was provided with three long camps. One was during the start of the World Cup qualifiers in 2019 – when we played well against Oman and Qatar. Then we had a long camp before the Asian Cup qualifiers in Kolkata. We hammered all the opponents. And now this is the third one.
It’s about what we want with the national team. There is no success of Indian football at any level if the national team is not successful. There is no recognition of quality in Indian football if the senior national team is not getting results at the international level.
In your last training session before the SAFF Cup final, you were seen telling players that they had three seconds to get behind the ball and then stay there. Can you talk a bit about those kinds of instructions and how they work out at that level of football?
In the Kuwait game, the offensive transition was their strongest point and it was our weakest. You could clearly see the poor reaction after losing a ball and you could see that their players had better technical skills. We covered those kinds of limitations through our better fitness. Now we have Kuruniyan, Sahal and Chhetri – all players who can run 12-14 kms per game. When they get back and press, it’s a problem for the opposition because now rather than run straight to goal, they need to dribble past them thrice before reaching the goal.

FINAL TRAINING SESSION 🔥💙
Coach @stimac_igor and the #BlueTigers put the finishing touches to their preparations for the FINAL last night 💪🏽👏🏽
TIME TO GO OUT AND WIN THIS 🏆
Full video 👉🏽 https://t.co/etYU3KkJII#SAFFChampionship2023 #KUWIND #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/62xIdYpZNE
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 4, 2023
Is there a fear that the team might be too reliant on Sunil Chhetri?
We do not depend on Sunil Chhetri. He doesn’t bring the ball up the pitch, or is part of midfield triangle drills. He is clearly a different class. With Sunil, we have a different approach. There are going to be times when he isn’t present.
The question is always, ‘Who after Chhetri?’ but I never thought that way. I was doing everything to keep alive the hunger he has so that he stays with us as long as possible. Even when he went through difficulties in Bengaluru being sidelined the last couple of years, we did everything to make sure he doesn’t leave too soon.
He is, in fitness, one of the top three in all the tests we execute for the national team. With his body, the numbers are perfect – be it body fat percentage or weight. Why should we think about Chhetri retiring? I’m going to do everything in my power to help him play for another five years..