Time and again, questions have been raised over the standard of Indian soccer. And Chima Okorie, who has seen it all as a player, administrator and coach, feels Indian soccer lacks dedicated people. “We need more dedicated people who can work for soccer. In India I have seen the emphasis is on skills but I personally feel that the concentration should be more on fitness. And it is not the association which can do that, it should come from within the players. The passion should be there within the players to improve their fitness. It’s all in the mindset of the players. The coaches have to challenge the players to improve their fitness; until that happens, a change is highly unlikely,” Chima told The Indian Express.

India have got a foreign coach, but the Nigerian striker feels the improvement should be at the grassroots. “The main problems lie with the coaches who are working at the the grassroots. They should get the right coaches to work with young kids. The association should invest more money on quality coaches and then we will get to see changes. The knowledge is very limited and most of the coaches don’t have scientific knowledge,” Chima said.

Despite having players like Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chettri, NP Pradeep to name a few, Chima says that players don’t play 100 per cent on the field.

“The players play only 50 per cent of their ability. If they take the initiative then they can give tough competition to any side in the world,” he said.

... contd.