Pritam Kotal is excited to work with Igor Stimac and feels India will reach new heights with the Croatian at the helm…
The Indian national team will play their first match in Kolkata, which is known as the ‘Mecca of Indian football’, after a gap of eight years. Their last match at the Salt Lake Stadium was way back in 2011 when they defeated Malaysia 3-2.
Right-back Pritam Kotal, who debuted for the senior team in 2015, never got an opportunity to play an international game in front of his home crowd.
Speaking to Goal, the full-back said, “This will be my first international match in my hometown. All I want is India to win convincingly in this match. We must remain focused and concentrate on picking up the three points.”
After being a regular starter for India, the former Mohun Bagan player recently lost his place to Bengaluru FC‘s Rahul Bheke who has since made the right-back spot his own.
But Kotal seems unperturbed and is enjoying the competition. “I personally think that only competition can help a player to improve. I am enjoying the competition. This is part and parcel of a player’s life. My job is to give my best and it is making me better.”
He further added, “Yes, I have missed a few games under Stimac. But as a player, my responsibility is to give my best in every training session. I am doing exactly that. The coach always fields the best XI. If he calls me, I am ready to perform. If I am picked against Bangladesh then I will give my all.”
The former Delhi Dynamos skipper feels that by bringing in a coach of Stimac’s stature, Indian football has and will improve.
Kotal said, “Our coach was a great player in his career and it is an added bonus for us that he was a defender too. He has brought in an enormous experience of playing and coaching at that level and it helps us immensely. He teaches the minute technical things and rectifies the mistakes as well. Maintaining the defensive shape, when to hurl an attack, the timing of when to go forward and trackback is something he stresses a lot. Maintaining on-field communication is another important aspect that he tries to drill into us as co-ordination is one of the most important things amongst the back four.”
Since joining the national side as the head coach, Igor Stimac has been extremely vocal about the fitness of the team and has brought down the fat percentage to less than eight per cent, a figure unheard of in Indian football.
“In modern football, fitness is the most important thing. If you have less percentage of body fat then you can perform at the same level for the entire 90 minutes. It is good that our players are working on their fitness and are following a strict diet. Football is rapidly changing and fitness has become a non-negotiable aspect of it.”
India recently held Asian Cup champions Qatar to a goalless draw and while the result was historic, the defender stressed the need to stay grounded and focused, going into their third World Cup qualifier game.
“Yes, the night was a historic one for Indian Football. Getting a point against Asian champions, that too at their home, is not an easy feat at all. But, we can’t afford to get carried away. We have to stay grounded and stay focused. Unless we get all three points in Kolkata, the point in Doha would prove to be nothing.
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