Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Feb 24: Set to begin his second stint as Indian football head coach with a match against Nepal next month, Stephen Constantine said Tuesday that he is yet to decide on who will captain the national team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. India play Nepal March 12 in Guwahati in the first round of the qualifiers and Constantine emphasised that Sunil Chhetri would not be the automatic choice to wear the captain’s armband in that match.
“I have not spoken to Sunil. He captained in India’s last international match. But I have not decided on who will lead the side against Nepal,” Constantine said. “All the players will assemble for a camp and then I will select the captain. Anything is possible,” he added.
While discussing his vision for Indian football, the 52-year-old Englishman said Indian football was not in the best of situations. “We have a lot of work ahead. I will do whatever I can. Of course, it (Indian football) is not in best situation. But I would want to talk more by results on the field than talking about what ails Indian football,” he said. Incidentally during Constantine’s first tenure between 2002 and 2005, India were ranked 109th. Currently they have slipped down to 171.
Constantine said he would want players of Indian origin to play for the country and he wanted multiple country passports for them till the time they played with the national team.
“I feel some footballers playing in other countries are good enough to play for India. If these players want to come here and play, I will support them. This can happen if the authorities can somehow manage a situation, in which these players can have multiple country passports,” he pointed out.
“For example, there is a very talented defender in England and he wants to play for India. What can be done for these players is that they can have an Indian passport till the time they are with national team and surrender it once they are out of the side,” added Constantine touching upon a topic which failed to get the Indian government’s support a few years ago.
