We hope to double participation in Golden Baby Leagues- AIFF Technical Director Isac Doru

The official was in the stands to watch the SAFF U-15 Championship clash between Ibdia and Bhutan.

AIFF Technical Director Isac Doru was present at the SAFF U-15 Championship game of the Indian side against Bhutan and spoke to Khel Now correspondent Sourav Neogi following the match.

Speaking about the game Doru was thoroughly impressed with both the result and the performance on the pitch. “I am very pleased to be honest. I’m very pleased because winning 7-0, you need to have this winning culture, winning mentality. The boys pushed in the second half even after the 4-0 in the first half, they had the right mentality, they kept playing and I really liked the attitude and the mentality.”

Watch: Isac Doru speaking after India U-15s win against Bhutan in the SAFF U-15 Championships

The Romanian also shed some light on the tactical aspects of the match. “I think both teams tried to build up from the back. It is nice to see that in this part of the world, the young players want to incorporate the ideals of modern football. The rain made it a little difficult in the second half for us and Bhutan, but everything considered, it was a good game.”

The technical director admitted that this was the first U-15 match he had witnessed and when asked to speak about head coach Bibiano Fernandes and his tactics, Doru revealed that he liked how Bibiano motivated his players.

“It’s very difficult to speak about the tactics, but I like the way he coaches his team because he kept pushing them to score one more goal, one more goal, that is amazing and very important. We need to instil the winning mentality in the players. He also made the right changes in the second half, which made them more aggressive. It’s a good sign.”

Isac had called for the establishment of more Golden Baby Leagues in the country. When asked to comment on this, he revealed how important it was to build right from the youngest age-group.

“We need to emphasize that at the golden age, the most important thing is the game. We need them to play, you know, U-8, U-10, U-12. For me, this golden age is the first priority to build up the football in India.

It’s the same as when you build a house or a stadium. Without a solid foundation, you cannot build it. All of us are pleased about this and we hope to double the participation compared to last year and the most important thing is for the boys to discover their passion for the game.”

The tactician has vast experience of working in the game of football. He has worked in countries like France with AS Nancy and OGC Nice, in the Middle East as U-17 manager with Al Hilal and Al Sadd, in Japan as the Sporting Director of Yokohama F. Marinos and in the United States with Houston Dynamo, he was also the coach of the Romanian U-19 side.

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When asked to comment on the relatively few coaches in India who hold a Pro Licence, Doru suggested that for him quality was more important than quantity. “For me, it’s not important (the number of coaches), but the quality of the coaches. It’s not just about the licence, it is also about the self-education of the coaches. They have the potential, the coaches here have the passion and they just need to work.”

Finally, the Romanian was asked about who he was impressed by the most from the game. Refusing to name any names he held his cards close to his chest but said, “Definitely, I saw two interesting players from U-15 and one excellent player from Bhutan.”