Nelo Vingada walks into the room casually and takes a seat beside me. He’s only landed in India yesterday, and his day is already lined up with commitments. Yet he seems full of energy and enthusiasm and is happy to indulge in a lengthy conversation on the game he is clearly immensely passionate about.
The newly appointed NorthEast United Football Club coach has colossal experience in management, and his CV makes for impressive reading. He’s had massively successful spells as Carlos Queiroz’s assistant with wins in consecutive U-20 World Cups with Portugal, also finishing 3rd in the 1995 World Youth Championship managing the same side as Head Coach.
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Vingada has managed International sides like Jordan and Saudi Arabia and has plenty of experience in club football as well, and my discussion with him clearly illustrated the vision and experience he will bring to the Indian Super League.
“It’s a great honour for me to be a member of the North East United family and of course, Indian Football. Things here are improving in India; the level of the players is getting better than before. The local coaches are important to the development of football. India is moving towards another level and can move up the FIFA rankings soon.”
Vingada gets to the point straight away and immediately stresses on the need to concentrate on the youth,
“It is important to look to young players who can produce, and giving them the support and help of the system. It is important to look inwards, it’s great to have foreigners but that isn’t the solution. We can be a part of the solution, but the most important part is the internal system. I will, of course, do my best with North East United, but also I am here to help Indian football to improve in the future. I hope I can extend my experience to help Indian football.
“North East were not so good in their first season, in the second they almost qualified for the play-offs. Now, I feel John Abraham and the people working with him are making a great effort to bring better solutions to the club and we will try to bring the club to a position that their fans deserve. We will fight to be in the playoffs.”
What will Vingada bring to Indian Football?
Vingada has immense experience as a manager, and I asked him what specifically he will look to bring to Indian Football. He stressed on the Portuguese Indian connection, that dates back hundreds of years and also talks about the essence of professionalism in the sport.
“I want to learn from Indian culture and my experience here, and our attitude will be to learn each day, each moment. Also, there is a historical connection between Portugal and India, we must think about this connection. I believe I can bring many things from my experience. It’s also important for India to start becoming stronger in Asia, their Asian ranking is not good. We have to teach the youth and help them, not only in how to play football but in being professional.
“To be a good player is one part, but to be the best you have to be a great professional. A great example is Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course, he’s a fantastic player, but he’s a superman as a professional. I believe that if Ronaldo wasn’t as professional as he is every day, he could not reach the level he’s at.”
Vingada’s role in Portugal’s Revolution, how India can learn from it
We then reminisced about the 1990s, a time in which Vingada worked with the Portugal U-20 side. First as assistant to Queiroz and then taking charge of the side himself.
“It was a great time in Portuguese football, and the moment the system really changed. The father of the movement was, of course, Carlos Queiroz, and I was beside him. That transformation is still giving fruit. I believe a part of this success now goes to the victorious players in France, but the groundwork was laid 25 years ago with Luis Figo and Rui Costa when we won the U-20 World Cup in Lisbon. It gave us a new vision and it’s something India can start thinking about.
Bring in better facilities for the youth, and give them a chance. A substantial part of spending must go towards youth development. Carlos Queiroz and I were criticised once because the Federation was spending big amounts, but that ended up making a transformation. It has had a great return now, not only in terms of money but in terms of prestige.”
We talk about the Germans investment in youth as well then and how it has paid off of late, and he mentions how the Portuguese Federation set a roadmap that several other nations then followed,
“Many Federations came to us, Germany came to us and asked what we were doing and how it was possible for such a small nation to achieve. Working with the organization, it’s possible to achieve important things. I do hope I can give a small but important contribution to Football here as well.”
I asked how although India is starting to get some positive results at youth level why this isn’t translating to our senior team yet. Vingada from his immense experience immediately has an answer.
“After our (Portugal’s) initial success at youth level, some of the best players found it hard to get a place in their club teams. A lot of places in the clubs were occupied by foreign players. In the ISL, for the next season, we can play with 6 foreigners and 5 Indian players.
“If you ask me, it’s fine for this year. But next year we must look to increase the quota for Indian players. When our players are ready, like in other Asian leagues, we should look to play 7 local players, and 4 foreigners. I think that would be a good balance because we’ll have more Indian players getting a chance.
Also, even having only arrived yesterday I must say that I am surprised by the quality of some Indian players. Sometimes this doesn’t reflect on the pitch, but in training, I could see the potential. I have a local [assistant] coach, and I believe we will learn from each other. I also think the young North East players have a lot of talent, and I will of course try to promote them as much as I can.”
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One thing, the experienced Portuguese won’t be used to despite his colossal experience is a 3-month league system. How will he adapt? Nelo’s answer comes immediately,
“We have 14 games, before the playoffs. I know to play 17 games in 3 months will be very intense, so during the competition the period in between the games is important to recover the players and it’s important to have a good squad. In this competition, the players need to be rotated and this needs great fitness levels and mental preparation. I’ve played more than 60 games in one of my years as a club coach, so everything is possible.”
Nelo then talks about how he eventually wound up signing for the North East United Football Club.
“I knew after my season in the Portuguese league that I wanted a different challenge. This is the 11th country I’ll be working in. I’ve come here for the challenge, and this country has too much to not contribute to the footballing world. I have great motivation. I contacted Simao Sambrosa (NEUFC’s former Marquee player), before coming here and he was very positive about his experience here. Also, India was a country that I had never visited, so it was an attractive proposition.”
Nelo is optimistic about what lies ahead with the North East United football club and says he will get back to work immediately after my interview. The 63 year old seems to have the enthusiasm and knowledge to get the best out of the ISL side, so there could well be exciting times ahead for NEUFC fans.
“I’m working on studying the club and our past performances and I think we can work together to bring positive results. We have some positions we need to fill in, we will be reviewing options. I believe we will bring in quality players that can help the team.”
