A committee, headed by former India striker Shyam Thapa, will meet in Mumbai on February 7, with ‘contract of coaches’ as the top item on its agenda. A committee, headed by former India striker Shyam Thapa, will meet in Mumbai on February 7, with ‘contract of coaches’ as the top item on its agenda.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Thursday called for a technical committee meeting to decide Stephen Constantine’s fate as the coach of the national team. The committee, headed by former India striker Shyam Thapa, will meet in Mumbai on February 7, with ‘contract of coaches’ as the top item on its agenda.

Constantine, under whom India went unbeaten the whole of 2017 and secured an Asian Cup berth, has reportedly fallen out with some of his key players, who have informally told the AIFF they are not happy playing under him. His contract expires in March. Caught in a dilemma, the AIFF has said the possibility of not giving him an extension will be considered only if the players make their complain official by either in writing to them or in person in front of the technical committee.

“Stephen has given us results that no coach in the past has. So by that logic, there is no reason not to extend his contract,” AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said. “If the players have an issue, as has been reported, they should officially inform the federation and we will put forth their concerns to the technical committee, who will take a final call.”

Unbeaten run

Going purely by results, Constantine’s future should not even be a debate. The English-Cypriot coach has led the national team to one of its best years ever. In fact, India last lost a match in March 2016 — 2-1 loss to Turkmenistan in a World Cup qualifier. Since then, the team has not been defeated in 13 matches, an unprecedented run that includes 11 wins and two draws.

The results on field reflected in India’s march on the ranking charts. The national team was languishing in mid-170s when Constantine took over four years ago. Last year, India reached its highest ranking in two decades when it broke into the top-100 (96) and ended the year placed 105th in the world — although it can be argued that the ranking surge was assisted by AIFF smartly working out the math behind it.

Yet, the players are unhappy with the coach. It was reported in October last year that several senior members of the team met AIFF general secretary Kushal Das and expressed their dissatisfaction with Constantine’s strategy and approach. Das denied any such meeting and captain Sunil Chhetri, too, insisted ‘there was no truth to it.’ Constantine, meanwhile, has maintained his silence on the issue.

But the differences between the players and coach are now a badly-kept secret. While on surface the relationship between the players and coach is normal, sources said they aren’t on talking terms beyond the bare minimum interaction required during training and on match-days.

A few players believe Constantine has not been able to device ‘workable tactics’ when the team has faced an opponent that’s as good as, or ranked higher, than them. The majority of matches India have played during their 13-match unbeaten run are against teams ranked lower than them.

Even in some of those matches, the team has struggled. For instance, India had to rely on individual brilliance of one or two players to get something from the matches against Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

At the Asian Cup, India will play at least two teams in the group stage who will be ranked higher to them.

“In such matches, the players have said they would want a coach who is technically better,” an AIFF official said.

“At that level, there are two key aspects — fitness and tactics. India have one-half covered — their fitness is on par with the rest in Asia. The debate is whether the team needs a coach who can design the right tactics to get good results against higher-ranked opponents.”

The AIFF is keen to sort out the issue by next month to finalise the team’s plan in the run-up to the the Asian Cup, which will be held in UAE from January 5 to February 1 next year. The federation is also keen to avoid the repeat of the under-17 World Cup saga, where a player revolt close to the tournament derailed India’s preparation.

Back then, the players wrote to the AIFF, saying they were not ready to play the under-17 World Cup under coach Nicolai Adam due to his aggressive behaviour. Adam was eventually sacked and his replacement, Luis Norton de Matos, got just eight months to prepare the team. Incidentally, Matos’s future too will be up for discussion in the technical committee meeting along with a review of India’s performance in the u-17 World Cup.

However, renewal of Constantine’s contract will be the key issue for the committee to address. “The under-17 players had the guts to write a letter to the AIFF,” a federation official said. “If the senior players have such serious issues, they need to make it official. Else, it will be tough for the AIFF to justify sacking a coach who’s got you the best results and also ensured Asian Cup qualification.”

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