Panaji: Football legend and globetrotting coach Zico believes that the imprint of the ‘beautiful game’ is getting deeper roots in Asia as he embarks on his first assignment in India.
The former Brazilian attacking midfielder has signed up for his first Indian engagement as the coach of Indian Super League (ISL) team FC Goa, after a string of assignments in-charge of Asian teams in Uzbekistan, Japan, Iraq and Qatar, among other countries.
“Asia is getting stronger and I have not come here to be a passenger. I have come here to be a part of the development of the game,” Zico told IANS during an interaction here.
His notes and observations about Asian teams are frank as well as educative.
The Indian team of a decade back, he said, was simply not up to the mark.
“In 2004, the players left much to be desired. They were short in stature. Also physically they were not well-endowed,” said Zico, who has played for Brazil in three World Cups but was never to lift the coveted trophy.
FC Goa is jointly promoted by three club owners – Anirudh Dhoot, a director with Videocon; Srinivas Dempo, chairman and managing director of the Dempo Group of Companies; and Dattaraj Salogaocar, managing director of V.M. Salgaocar and Company.
And, in what could be a further indictment of decrepit Indian footballing standards, Zico, who has coached four Asian teams, including the national sides of Uzbekistan, Japan and Iraq in the recent past, says he doesn’t know much about the country’s footballing culture or its players.
Despite having signed on with FC Goa, Zico claimed he did not know much about the players in his team.
“I do not have much knowledge about Indian football as such, but I will now meet with all of them and learn more about them. After training I will be able to tell you more about the Indian footballing culture,” Zico said, adding that it was unfortunate that a country with such a big population does not have much of a footballing story.
Not having a hand in team selection is not a problem according to the officially endorsed FIFA legend, who claims that in a club everyone has his job cut out and there’s no need for overlap.
“When I met the players on Thursday my job was to make them better players so that they do well. That’s my job. It’s very easy to get players, Mr. Dempo can get (sign) Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo tomorrow. It’s up to him what players to bring,” the legend quipped.
His stint as the coach of Japan, his first major success, was about starting from scratch, Zico explained.
“In Japan, there was no professionalism at all. But the biggest advantage I had was that everyone in the Japanese team was united and wanted to progress from amateur football to professional football,” he recalled.
Zico incidentally had two stints in Japan, one as player and manager at the Kashima Antlers club team and later as the coach of the Japanese national team with whom he won the 2004 Asia Cup.
In Turkey, Zico says, he successfully managed to change the outlook of the footballers and fans to a more global level.
“In Turkey, they’ve been concentrating on the internal football league only. I tried to change their mentality and encouraged them to venture beyond their comfort zone and look towards the international arena. That is how they took the initiative to play in Europe and other parts of the world,” he said.
Zico, also known as ‘White Pele’, was part of the 1982 Brazilian squad, which he said was then the most feared side in South America. Brazil’s original football legend Pele himself won the World Cup on three occasions.
“For me, the 1982 Brazil squad was the best, although we could not win the World Cup then. There are big teams who did not win the World Cup, and I can immediately think of Hungary (1954) and Holland (1974),” he said. (IANS)
