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

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.