CHENNAI: Two hundred nineteen days! That may seem like a lot of time in football, especially in light of the fact Bob Bradley spent just over a third of that in charge of Swansea City recently. But when your task is taking charge of a group of 16-year-old boys, getting them to buy into your philosophy and preparing them for the biggest tournament anyone in their country has ever turned up for, 219 days suddenly shrink into something a lot more inadequate... Luis Norton de Matos has to ready India’s U-17 team for the World Cup that starts in October.
His is no easy task, but the All India Football Federation believes he is equipped for it. At first glance, De Matos’ record looks impeccable. Five caps for Portugal amidst a playing career spent at clubs like Benfica, Estoril and Standard Leige was followed by behind-the-scenes stints at the likes of Sporting Clube, Benfica and the Guinea-Bissau national team.
He comes with glowing recommendations from FIFA, UEFA and Portugal’s Euro winning coach Fernando Santos. But it is when you look at his experience handling adolescent footballers that doubts start to creep in.
After all, wasn’t the strike against his predecessor Nicolai Adam that he wasn’t sensitive to the unique needs of the U-17 team and handled them like just another senior outfit?
On Tuesday, De Matos met with a number of AIFF and Sports Authority of India officials including the four former national teamers who had pulled his name from amidst a haystack of resumes. The 63-year-old was quizzed by former India captain IM Vijayan, current technical committee head Bhaichung Bhutia, the U-17 team’s CEO Abhishek Yadav and the country’s technical director Savio Madeira. The first impression that he made with them was a favourable one.
“It was impressive, the way he answered all the questions,” said Vijayan. “His background is very impressive and from what we talked, he seems the right man for the job. We told him what we expected of the team in the World Cup. He was certainly one of the stand-out applicants we had. He assured us that he would do his best.”
But even the AIFF accepts that De Matos’ task is tough. “Of course it is really tough,” said Madeira. “He has limited time to work with the team. But then, every job in football is tough. We have picked who we think is the right person for this job. He knows that if he does will he will get the credit and otherwise, he will get the blame. Now we have to wait and see.”
De Matos, who will meet the team on Saturday, sounded confident.
“My role will be to orchestrate everything wherein the players will play their part,” he said. “They need to believe in themselves to do something special for the country. I will retain the positives of the last two years as we move forward.”
And if a ‘cultural misunderstanding’ was what did Adam in, De Matos is quick to assure he is no stranger to the country and its culture. “Well, I do have an Indian connection as my great grandfather was born in Goa,” he signed off.
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com