igor Stimac vents frustration at lack of preparatory camps for the national team

INDIAN NATIONAL TEAM head coach Igor Stimac is visibly unahappy with the time he's getting with the players.

The Blue Tigers are on a historic run this year, winning three trophies (Tri-Nation Tournament, Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship) within the single calendar year for the very first time. They are also undefeated in 2023. Now they are heading into tough challenges in King's cup, Merdeka Tournament, World Cup Qualifiers and the Asian Cup.

But despite repeated appeals he did not get enough time in the camp with the players in the national camp. Some U-23 players bound for Asian Games will spend no time at all in a pre-tournament preparatory camp. And some players will fly to Thailand just days before the first King's Cup match due to their teams still competing for Durand Cup.

Stimac, never one to mince words, vented his frustration in an interview with Indian Express,

“I didn’t, pardon my language now, come to India to lick a**es. I came to India to help. If you want my help, I need to tell you the truth. You can face it, you can help me to overcome the problems or you can tell me we’re not going to change anything, please coach go home, and I will go home happily and we’re going to stay friends... we have the best brains in the world in India, you’re telling me we cannot manage to adjust the calendar to make sure that the national team has enough time to work? Or are there some other interests? I don’t have a problem with saying that because that’s the truth. Whoever wants to prove me wrong, he can come out publicly with me, debate and tell me what is the main problem?”

With the ISL growing in size, the Federation Cup making a comeback and Durand Cup becoming a crucial part of the Indian football calendar, we finally have a club football system that runs long and features more clubs across the country than ever. This has, however, limited AIFF's ability to pull players from their clubs for national duty when it's not the official FIFA international window. Clubs are definitely not ready to send players for long camps while they miss out on crucial Durand Cup, ISL or AFC Cup matches.

The Asian Cup taking place in January does not help either; because it forces a long break in the midfdle of the league season.

So, it does seem that no matter how you go about it, it's practically impossible to organise a month-long national camp. The players, however, did spend more than a month in the national camp when India played Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship back to back recently.

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