One for the album: Mohun Bagan’s Ferrando takes a selfie with other coaches and players at the ISL media day.
| Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI
Most of the coaches of different Indian Super League clubs operate under a fake pressure that forces them to go for foreign forwards while ignoring the Indian strikers with good profile, feels the Kerala Blasters head coach Ivan Vukomanovic. The Serbian coach said this while assessing the mentality of the coaches of the country’s top league as his team prepared for a fresh title hunt ahead of the ISL-10.
Blasters kick off their ISL campaign on September 21 by hosting Bengaluru FC, the team against which they controversially walked out in the playoffs last season.
With India international Ishan Pandita joining the side, Vukomanovic said his club has always promoted and nurtured Indian talents. “Many coaches (in ISL) have the tendency of not preferring Indian forwards because of some fake pressure to find results. Most of the teams sign foreign strikers for that. And because of this fake pressure most of the coaches were not allowing Indian forwards with good profiles enough minutes on the ground,” said Vukomanovic during the ISL media day on Wednesday.
With the ISL title still eluding Blasters, Vukomanovic said the club has not been lucky whenever it played the finals (on three occasions in 2014, 2016 and 2022).
Luck factor
“Once you reach the final, it is about one game and 90 or 120 minutes and then the tie-breaker where it is more about luck or some individual motivation. We have so many teams around the world who have lost the final many times. It is part of the sport and we have to deal with it,” said Vukomanovic, who is still serving the 10-match ban imposed on him after the forfeiture of the BFC match.
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