One year review: Five talking points of Wim Koevermans’ tenure so far

Dutchman Wim Koevermans has completed one year as head coach of the Indian national team. Sportskeeda lists the five talking points of the Euro 1988 winner’s tenure so far.

The list is in no particular order

Limited opportunities to impose new style

Photo Credit: AIFF Media

Ever since his appointment, Koevermans has rightly stressed on playing regular international friendlies on FIFA match dates but for one reason or the other that hasn’t happened.

Already in his tenure, three matches have been cancelled without any alternative being arranged. Incredibly, India have played just two international friendlies in 12 months under Koevermans.

So clearly, past mistakes are being repeated by the AIFF and as a result the national team has been going backwards. But more importantly, the lack of regular international matches has denied Koevermans the chance to impose the new style of play which he and technical director Rob Baan had planned.

The arrival of Baan and Koevermans meant that Indian football was set to adopt the Dutch philosophy right from the youth teams to the senior setup.

However, there haven’t been enough opportunities for Koevermans to try out various aspects of the new method at the senior team.

Most players have grown up playing in a 4-4-2 system which requires a direct approach and emphasis is not on keeping possession. Although we have seen the national team play a lot more short passes under Koevermans compared to the Bob Houghton era, the team still isn’t comfortable yet with the new style and that was evident in the defeat to Myanmar in the final 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier.

Koevermans will continue to struggle to bring in that new style in a concrete way unless India starts playing regular internationals.

One-striker system hasn’t worked

India have been overdependent on skipper Sunil Chhetri

Unlike his predecessors, Koevermans has been starting with just one striker from his very first game and has stood by that in each of his ten matches (including the two unofficial matches against Cameroon ‘B’ in the Nehru Cup).

The 4-4-1-1 system has looked good on some occasions like the opening game against Syria in the 2012 Nehru Cup and the first half of the international friendly against Palestine last February.

But overall, with only Sunil Chhetri upfront, India have lacked bodies in the final third and only looked threatening going forward when Koevermans has put another striker besides skipper Sunil during the second half of some matches. As a result the team has been overdependent on their star striker.

21-year-old Alwyn George (in blue) is the only decent playmaker around in India currently (Image credit: AIFF Media)

It was surprising to see only one striker against teams like Chinese Taipei and Guam in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and in the end, it turned out to be the wrong move.

India only defeated Chinese Taipei when Robin Singh came on as a substitute to head home a late winner and should have beaten Guam by more than four goals. Bigger wins in those games would have seen India qualify as one of the best second-placed teams.

Koevermans either has to reconsider this formation or work more with this lone striker system but once again he would need more time and matches with the national team players.

The emergence of a proper playmaker is also essential for this system and finding such a player in Indian football is difficult with the only player capable of filling that role at present, Alwyn George, who is just 21.

Coaching staff hasn’t helped Wim’s cause

It is quite natural for fans and media to scrutinise the squad selection of any national team coach and when the results are not going the right way, it ends up in huge criticism.

But in truth, Koevermans couldn’t have done much better himself while selecting the squad or first eleven.

Sportskeeda had stressed back in March, following the failure to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, that the presence of Savio Medeira hasn’t helped the national team’s cause.

Koevermans could do with some fresh ideas as the presence of someone who openly criticised the players for lack of commitment towards the national team isn’t a healthy situation.

Savio Medeira’s presence hasn’t helped the national team (Image credit: AIFF Media)

Despite all that, Koevermans must be given credit for picking quite a few players based on their league form like CK Vineeth, T Karma, K Asif, Sandip Nandy, something which didn’t happen even during Houghton’s tenure.

It’s true that some other consistent I-League performers like Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Anas Edathodika etc. have not been picked but lot of it is also down to the local advisors of Koevermans. The Dutchman is still new to Indian football and thus won’t always be right about every selection and like all national coaches around the world, he can’t make too many changes all the time because he doesn’t work regularly with the players.

Koevermans also hasn’t thought twice of dropping a big name who is out of form like in the case of Syed Rahim Nabi, who started in only one of the three AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers after a poor performance against Palestine. Nabi’s exclusion didn’t really help the team but it sent out a message to the players that selection won’t be based on reputation and that is something very useful for any dressing room.

Willingness to work closely with I-League clubs

Despite Bob Houghton’s success and huge popularity among national team players and Indian football fans, the Englishman wasn’t a popular figure among I-League clubs.

One of his biggest criticisms was that he was never a regular to I-League matches and very rarely gave importance to consistent I-League performers.

It’s unclear what opinion clubs have about Koevermans but the Dutchman has certainly made every effort to work closely with them. The 53-year-old is a lot more regular than Houghton to I-League venues and has even hold some meetings with I-League coaches to ensure that a similar style of play is used in the national team and at club level.

Koevermans regularly attends I-League matches (Photo Credit: AIFF Media)

Of course that won’t happen overnight, but Koevermans has clearly identified that the strength of the national team would depend on the quality of the national domestic league and his squad selection has also reflected that he gives a lot of importance to club performances.

So maybe it wasn’t such a surprise to see him criticise IMG-Reliance’s proposed IPL-style tournament, although AIFF later clarified that his comments were misconstrued, as he is not happy that the deadlock between AIFF’s commercial partners and I-League clubs has forced many of his key national team players to be club-less for now.

Koevermans is also overseeing the first-ever AFC pro license coaching course in India, which is being attended by most of the current I-League coaches and that is another step in his mission of working together with the clubs.

Jury is still out

One year undoubtedly is too short a time to make judgments so Koevermans should be given some more time to get the best out of the national team and produce the desired results.

But one thing is for sure, Koevermans’ stint so far hasn’t convinced too many people that he is the right man to take India forward at the international stage.

Many previous national team coaches like Syed Nayeemuddin, the only Dronacharya award winner in football, would argue that the Dutchman is lucky to be still in charge as he failed to achieve the bare minimum of even competing in Asia’s second tier international competition AFC Challenge Cup, which is also the only tournament via which India can qualify for the Asian Cup.

The Nehru Cup 2012 triumph can’t really be considered a huge success because of the strength of the other teams was questionable, with the win over Cameroon ‘B’ in the final not even being regarded as an official match.

The Dutchman must win the SAFF Cup (Image credit: AIFF Media)

The SAFF Cup is the next big assignment of Koevermans and India will be expected to retain the trophy that they have won a record six times. Anything less than a triumph in Nepal could bring a premature end to his reign and it won’t be easy to be the best in South Asia again considering the improvements of teams like Maldives and Afghanistan and the fact that it will be held on foreign soil.

Even success in the SAFF Cup will not make up for the AFC Challenge Cup disappointment but Koevermans will have a winning foundation to build on and would hope that in the following 12 months they regularly play on FIFA match dates.

For now though, the jury is still out on the Euro 1988 winner’s performance as India head coach.