Indian football needs to improve the competition among young players: Jorge Costa
Former Mumbai City FC coach Jorge Costa shared his two cents on how he believed Indian football could take the next step forward in its bid to unlock its immense potential as a footballing superpower.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, the Portuguese quipped that though Indian footballers boasted talent in abundance, they still required a slightly better set-up in their formative years.
Emphasizing the enhancements that needed to be made at the grassroot levels, Costa talked about how that usually helps footballers develop to become the best version of themselves, something that would help Indian football enormously.
“One thing that Indian football needs to do as soon as possible is to improve the competition among the young players. Indian football players have a lot of quality. Technically, they are very good. But, I have realized that a lot of them don’t understand the game. That happens because they are not given that knowledge when they are 15-16 years of age. And, this has to change as soon as possible,” the former Mumbai City FC coach opined.
Additionally, the Portuguese, who guided the Islanders to the ISL play-offs in the 2018-19 season, stressed how Portugal had adopted a similar process, which culminated with the European nation winning the FIFA U-20 World Cups in 1989 and 1991.
Post those successes, Portugal started finding its feet in the international circuit and have gone on to become one of the more dominant forces in world football.
Though he admitted that results often become the need of the hour in football, he maintained that Indian football, especially in its current landscape, needed to concentrate on the process.
“Of course, the process is paramount. India needs to prioritize the project, which will be there for 6-8 years. As I said before, give kids better competitions. Take the national team abroad to play competitions in Dubai, France, Spain and Portugal. The Indian Arrows is a very good project but just one of those is not enough. There need to be more in Indian football,” Costa elaborated.
Throughout his tenure at Mumbai City FC, Jorge Costa promoted youngsters and they often repaid the Portuguese’s faith with some stellar performances.
The likes of Raynier Fernandes and Sarthak Golui have gone one to become mainstays in the national side. Sourav Das, meanwhile, also gave a pretty good account of himself after being called upon to fill the massive Paulo Machado-shaped void during the 2019-20 ISL season.
Thus, it seems wise to listen to what Jorge Costa has to say about Indian football and how those changes can be implemented to enhance one of the faster developing national teams in Asia.
Igor Stimac is currently leading the Indian football revolution
At this juncture though, Indian football seems to be paying heed to the advice of following the process, rather than the results, with national team head coach Igor Stimac looking to establish a footballing identity.
As for Jorge Costa, the Portuguese dropped a hint that he might be back working his magic with Indian football, although those seem to only be murmurs at this juncture.
If he does return though, it would be interesting to see how he translates his ideals of development and how he can contribute to the Indian football scenery.
Also Read: 'I am in talks with one ISL club currently', Jorge Costa opens up on the possibility of a return to India