I agree that Indian players should go abroad and play: FC Goa Technical Director Derrick Pereira

FC Goa Technical Director Derrick Pereira shed light on his vision for the development of Indian players, wherein he stated that under the current circumstances, playing in foreign leagues might help Indian footballers develop.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, the FC Goa technical director talked about the advantages of plying one’s trade overseas, adding that it contributes to a footballer ironing out his flaws.

“I agree that Indian players should go abroad and play. At that level, you can hardly make mistakes and if you do, you get punished. Also, these players need to play at a high level. If you have a league of your own that is very competitive, then it makes sense to play at home. But, right now, I feel that players should go [to foreign leagues],” the FC Goa Technical Director told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview.

Furthermore, Derrick Pereira opened up on how the experiences of participating in a different league makes a player more accustomed to the different styles of football and ensures that they get used to different tactics and philosophies.

“Another thing is even if you have a competitive league at home, it is important to go outside and play out of your comfort zone. You will experience different styles, different approaches and ways of playing. You will also learn professionalism in a different way. So it is always good for a player to go abroad to gain more knowledge because foreign leagues are on a higher level. But, it is important that players get enough playing time. Playing matches is the best sort of training,” he said.

Derrick Pereira talked about the importance of learning on the job (Credits: Yahoo)

Unfortunately though, only a handful of current Indian internationals such as Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sunil Chhetri have played for foreign clubs.

Apart from that, the FC Goa Technical Director emphasized the essence of learning the trade on the job by recalling an incident, wherein he coached the national U-23 team in matches against Qatar, Uzbekistan and the likes.

When quizzed how that exposure benefitted his players, Derrick Pereira was quick to point out that the players became more accustomed to the myriad circumstances each encounter provided, maintaining that the players gave a pretty decent account of themselves.

Additionally, the FC Goa technical director stressed upon the importance of according players some kind of formal coaching when they are coming through the ranks.

Having been a part of numerous youth coaching setups over the years, the former Indian footballer quipped about the variety of methods that each coach usually brings to the table.

The FC Goa technical director added that that could help footballers understand the game much more, especially at a time when they are looking to break into numerous senior teams across the country.

“We had a few tournaments but we never had formal coaching. We used to play competitions in the summer vacations. If we had a formal training during that time, we would certainly have been better players,” the FC Goa technical director said.

“For example, I got my formal coaching only when I joined a senior team like Salgaocar. Nobody taught us before that. After retirement, I learnt how important a footballer’s first touch is. If I had gotten that knowledge earlier, I would have worked on it. At the age of 33 or 34, when I was playing for the state of Goa, a foreign coach was teaching us how to receive the ball when asking for it from the goalkeeper. These are little things but they add up to make a massive difference,” the former Indian international said.

Furthermore, Derrick Pereiera elaborated on how India, as a country, needed to constantly revise its coaching mechanisms, bringing forth new ideas which need to be in sync with how the game of football evolves across the globe.

“We never made any changes after our initial successes [1962 Asian Games]. We didn’t bring in new ideas like the rest of the countries and they overtook us. We struggled to make those changes,” the FC Goa technical director opined.

Over the past few years, India has started making conscious efforts to enhance its footballing ecosystem and provide an environment that helps players realize their full potential.

Clifford Miranda and Derrick Pereira were handed the FC Goa reins in the later stages of the 2019-20 ISL (Credits: Yahoo UK)

In fact, the inception of the ISL in 2014 has gone a long way in establishing football as a primary profession for players across the country, meaning that they have poured their heart and soul into becoming professional footballers.

And, fortunately, to that end, the technical director of one of ISL’s biggest clubs – FC Goa, seems to have all the right ideas up his sleeve.

FC Goa have tried to bring through home-grown players in the ISL

FC Goa Development team captain Leandro (L) has been called up to the senior side

To put things into perspective, FC Goa have constantly tried to give their youth teams a lot of exposure - something that was evident when FC Goa took part in the PL-ISL Next Gen Cup 2020 in Mumbai in February.

Moreover, the likes of Brandon Fernandes, Lenny Rodrigues, Mohammad Nawaz and Seriton Fernandes have been regular fixtures in the FC Goa side, hinting at the philosophy of the club.

And, though India, as an entity, still has plenty of miles to traverse before becoming a continental footballing superpower, the nation can take solace in the fact that steps are being taken in the right direction, even if they are baby-steps at this juncture.