Capture the player's mind & heart and the legs will follow- Chinese Taipei coach Gary White

The tactician talked briefly about his side ahead of the Intercontinental Cup next month.

Chinese Taipei Coach Gary White has had an 86% winning record since taking over the Coach of Chinese Taipei including a famous 2-1 win over Bahrain in what he describes having “changed the course of Football in Chinese Taipei.” In a freewheeling with AIFF, White, earlier a Coach of the Guam National team speaks at length about his philosophy as a Coach, the victory against Bahrain, Football in Chinese Taipei and much more. Here are the excerpts.

You have been, at times, described as a ‘huge motivator’ while some have described you as a ‘shrewd tactician.’ How do you best describe yourself as a coach?

My philosophy to create a winning environment is simple – you need to capture the player’s minds and hearts and then the legs will follow. I want all the players that we coach to love to play and to play with S.O.U.L, it’s an acronym that captures the values and characteristics of all whom are involved in the teams that I coach. Sacrifice, Ownership, Unity, & Legacy are required by ALL, before we step on the grass to work.

Obviously, in modern-day elite football, strategy, tactics, systems, styles, analysis, etc, are required. But in my opinion, it’s essential to firstly engage and connect with your players, if you expect them to follow you and believe in your team vision!

You missed the qualification to the AFC Asian Cup by a whisker. Do you regret that you didn’t take charge from the start of the campaign and if you did do you feel that you could have qualified?

We took over the team midway into the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. In hindsight, there will always be a feeling or rather a lament that we would have qualified if we were leading the team from the beginning. 

First off, we had a very difficult group, not just on paper but also in terms of travel. The momentum in which we are playing makes me believe that we could have topped the group. But we lost too many home games prior to us taking over and the reality is you can’t do that if you expect to qualify. That has been remedied now as we are unbeaten at home from the 5 games we have played since taking over the National Team.

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Chinese Taipei are currently at an incredible 86% winning percentage since you took over with some inspirational results including the famous 2-1 victory over Bahrain. Can you take us through to that match?

It was a magical evening in Taipei; it was the National day. The media thought we were crazy in manner and confidence in which we approached and prepared for the game. The team had just lost 5-0 in Bahrain under the former coaching staff. There was a new found belief installed and our team were playing with SOUL. We strongly believed in the group of players and staff and we made many tactical changes. The spirit on display was exemplary.

What makes it all the sweeter is that we came back from a goal down and equalised in the 89thminute and got the winner in added time.

There was a story that you ran and chased the ball to get it back into play.

(Laughs). Yeah, I did. It happened in added time when the game was tied 1-1. The ball went out of play and I was desperate to get it back as I believed we could still win it. As I sprinted for the ball past the ball boys to hand it over to the Bahraini player so not to waste a second of time in the game -- our dugout were trying to shout over the noise of the large crowd: ‘Gaffer slow down and respect the draw, kill off the game, don’t rush.’

After strongly disagreeing with my staff, I gave back the ball and almost immediately, we scored from the move. The crowd went berserk, the moment changed the course of Football in Taiwan. We had thousands of fans that day waiting to see off the team bus. Those are the moments that makes a players and coach’s life very special.

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Where would you want to see the Chinese Taipei National Team two years from now?

We are going from strength to strength. We have climbed significantly in the FIFA Rankings – from around the 160’s to a historic 121, since we took over in September last year and we are constantly looking forward. Our goals include breaking into the FIFA top 100, qualifying for a major tournament and creating more professional football markets in Asia in order to place more of our immensely talented players.