Longball to Igorball: How Stimac transformed Indian football team's playstyle

Practical or plucky, whatever decisions you take in life are a direct result of our human nature. Individual personality has a big influence on life and on everything around us. Under Stephen Constantine, who coached India from 2002 to 2005 and then again from 2015 to 2019, the Blue Tigers had a monumental run, especially in the English coach’s second tenure which saw the Indian men’s football team qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 and then beat Thailand in the group stage of the continental event. A practical coach, Constantine’s philosophy was to defend first and attack later. With Robin Singh and Balwant Singh upfront, India, a lowly ranked FIFA side, opted for long-ball strategies more often than not to grind out results. But despite the memorable ending of Constantine’s tenure, there was something missing. To be precise, joga bonito (the beautiful game). To win hearts of millions of Indians, the Blue Tigers needed to marry results with an expansive brand of football. Enter Igor Stimac. India needed bold and new ideas and their search led them to former Croatia coach and 1998 World Cup third-place winner Stimac. The two red cards for the 55-year-old in the 2023 SAFF Championship introduced Indian football fans to the aggressive nature of the Croat, but Stimac, a former U20 world champion who played for Derby County and West Ham United in England, has always worn his heart on the sleeve. Thus on 15 May 2019, India hired Stimac to transform the national football team’s fortunes and playstyle. In his very first press conference, the former defender said he would look to “holistically improve football” in the nation. Four years down the line, India are a team that is much younger in age and plays high-pressing, possession-based football with an attack-first philosophy. They are also a team unbeaten in the last 15 games at home and 11 overall. The work started at the very beginning by dismantling the squad and putting together new pieces that included young and more technical players. “Coming to a country where a certain style of play in the national team was implemented, which was a very old fashion style of football, radical changes were required. So, we started looking out for more technical players, looking for younger players. Using the fantastic project which was done by AIFF with Indian Arrows as a core base of these future players of the national team,” Stimac told Firstpost in an exclusive interview. 11 out of 23 players from India’s SAFF Championship squad made their debuts under Stimac, while goalkeeper Gurmeet is still to play. 7 out of 23 are under 25 years old and only four players are over 30. A far cry from Constantine’s style, Stimac has made India play a possession-based game where the team’s priority is to control the ball and work it around, minimising the risk of the opposition’s attack in the meantime. The goal-threatening attacks are generally pushed through the wings that are manned by the quickest players in the side. Another factor that has allowed Stimac to be successful is the off-the-pitch work done with the players. In the process of finding his players, Stimac had a poor start, losing five of the first nine matches in 2019 and drawing three. The coronavirus pandemic denied the team, and many globally, of football in 2020. Thereafter, it took some time for Stimac to try out his methods and zero in on his players. However, known for tinkering with the lineup almost always, Stimac now has a settled squad. Besides a sorted squad, another highlight of the current national team, and one of the key reasons behind its recent successful run, is the camaraderie and trust among the players. “To explain to you how the process works. I said in the first press conference that this process is the road which will have a lot of suffering on its way and I asked for unity from media and all the stakeholders and everyone, and it never happened. Anyway, we succeeded without the support of everyone. Being criticised on our way, only because those people could not recognise what was happening inside…Now we are in the stage where we have a national team which is making the Indian nation proud of the way they play, of their attitude, of their behaviour, of their warrior attitude which we instilled in them. They are like brothers on the pitch and that is what I like about them,” Stimac added.

Hero Tri-Nation Cup ✅
Hero Intercontinental Cup ✅
Bangabandhu SAFF Championship ✅

Hat-trick of championships for 🇮🇳 🤩#KUWIND ⚔️ #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/AaXq26vXik

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 4, 2023

It’s a fact that was also acknowledged by captain Sunil Chhetri before the SAFF Championship semi-final against Lebanon. India would go on to beat Lebanon and then Kuwait in the final to clinch a record-extending ninth SAFF Cup. “I think we are gelling well now. I think that’s what one and a half months of preparation does. A lot of boys, usual suspects who have done really well in the last year, have carried their form, and then being together one and a half months has really helped. But we have talked about this day in, day out, let’s not get carried away. Where we want to go, what we have in the next six months is massive. It’s a huge journey,” Chhetri said. Talking about Chhetri. The Bengaluru FC striker remains India’s biggest goal-scoring source, however, the form of the wingers around him has somewhat reduced the reliability on the 38-year-old veteran. India have scored 16 goals in the 11 games played this year and eight have come from Chhetri but the healthy sign is that 50% of the remaining goals are from other players. In-form Lallianzuala Chhangte scored three while Sahal Abdul Samad, Udanta Singh and Naorem Mahesh Singh also got one each. “He (Chhetri) is precious but no player is irreplaceable. Because we played games without Sunil and we were successful. The unit can replace anyone and then through our work another striker will be there and he will start scoring with the time and work provided here,” Stimac analysed. If India defended in big numbers in the past to avoid conceding goals and defeats, the current unit has managed to keep clean sheets despite playing high-risk football. In 2023, the Blue Tigers have secured nine clean sheets in 11 games and the major reason for the team’s solidity at the back has been the higher work rate of the players and increased level of fitness. The perfect example of the growing fitness standard was India playing 120 minutes of football back-to-back in the SAFF Championship semi-final and final without players cramping up or tiring out.

The Real Team behind the team 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Celebrating our Amazing Staff and Medical Team who Always Go the Extra Mile to Keep us going 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/RmrOmsjfVR

— Sandesh Jhingan (@SandeshJhingan) July 6, 2023

Stimac explained this improvement was a result of a sustained training programme on fitness and strength over the years, even during the players’ time with the club. The longer national camp has had its contribution as well. “The best way of defending your goal is attacking very high. Simple as that. And the selection we executed is perfect. We have enough runners in our teams, we have enough muscle strength now in our team because we have been working for the past four years intensively in the gym. Players were given individual training programmes to be executed in the gym with their private coaches apart from the club training sessions.” Bigger challenges lie ahead. India will face Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 group stage, three teams tougher than what they have faced so far. The unbeaten streak and clean sheets won’t stay the same. It must also be added that playing all the matches at home in 2023 has played its role in India stitching a run of successful results, but one mustn’t forget that India for the first time managed to beat two West Asian teams back-to-back to clinch the SAFF Championship and defeated a higher-ranked Kyrgyz Republic in March. Most importantly, the transformation in the playing style and the bold attitude to give its all no matter the opposition, is refreshing and satisfying. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.