AIFF should go one or two level higher in recruiting foreign coach, says Jo Paul Ancheri

Indian football fans still couldn’t believe the manner in which the side was eliminated from the group stages in AFC Asian Cup. After winning 4-1 against Thailand and losing 2-0 against UAE in the group, any result apart from a defeat against Bahrain in the third and last group stage match would have seen them through. And India held on to a draw till late before Bahrain got a late penalty to win the match 1-0. 

The then coach, Constantine soon announced himself stepping down in the post-match press conference with AIFF in the search for a proper successor since then. Ancheri heaped praise on Constantine for what he did with Indian football and has asked the federation to go for a bigger name this time.

“Stephen has taken India to new heights - there are no doubts about it. Taking India through a long unbeaten streak of 13 matches was an unprecedented achievement,” Ancheri stated, reported Goal.

“Even in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, it was sheer poor luck with finishing which resulted in the team losing against the UAE, a game which they should have easily won. But I believe that time has now come for the AIFF to go one or two levels higher and recruit a more experienced foreign coach,” he added.

If rumours are to be believed then the AIFF has shortlisted a rich list of candidates for the job that include the likes of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Albert Roca, Tommy Taylor (England), Hakan Ericson (Sweden), Tomislav Sivic (Serbia), Lee Clark (England) and Lucas Alcaraz Gonzalez (Spain). And Ancheri has been of the opinion that an ideal candidate should have good exposure to European or Asian football.

“A foreign coach with more exposure in more developed European or Asian football cultures is now the need of the hour as India looks to take a step up towards becoming a top 10 Asian team,” he explained.

“Currently, the Indian national team is on the right track. But a lot of hard work will need to go in if we can go far in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Our target should be to reach the final round of Asian qualifiers,” Ancheri added.