Koevermans: Doors open, anyone can get into the National Team!

Indian national football coach Wim Koevermans had, after the Federation Cup, selected 32 probables including some new faces ahead of the international friendly against Singapore on Tuesday, but in the end the Dutchman choose 20 players of which 19 had been part of the Nehru Cup winning squad, with only Joaquim Abranches replacing an injured Manandeep Singh. Some were surprised, others agreed with the selections by the Dutchman and I have to say that I personally agree with the selections that Wim Koevermans has made for the Singapore friendly, purely due to the fact that there is no training camp ahead of the game, to be precise the team is together for only three days ahead of the game in Singapore and Koevermans as a coach will want to use players with whom he has worked and who understand his playing philosophy.

So far, Wim Koevermans has seen little of Indian club football and he needs to get more time to see as many matches as possible to identify further potential talent in the I-League who could strengthen his team.

And in an interview he just stated that by saying, “It was interesting to watch the boys play for their respective clubs. We’ve scouted and created a list of lot of players in various positions. We will follow and monitor their progress and position on a regular basis. We are in no mood to hurry as the National Team is an altogether different level.”

“But the doors stay open for everyone. All those who are capable enough of donning the National Team jersey will get a chance for sure. But for that, one needs to play well and more importantly, be good enough,” Koevermans added.

There are players missing, who could wear the India jersey, but Koevermans himself will have to find the best possible outfit which can play his style of football, then every coach is different and might not like the same set of players.