New Delhi: In his last game in charge, Manolo Marquez would dearly want to end his India stint with his first competitive win. But for that to happen, India would have to raise their performance a notch or two in Hong Kong in their AFC Asian Cup qualifier.
While Marquez remain tight-lipped about his future with the national team, News9 Sports understands that he has already informed the All India Football Federation of his decision to leave after the Hong Kong game on Tuesday.
“Manolo is quitting after Hong Kong’s match,” a person aware of the development confirmed what has been widely speculated for the last couple of months.
“He had informed of his intention to leave verbally during the Super Cup in April and had planned to announce it through a press conference but was persuaded to stay in charge till the June 10 qualifier,” another source informed.
“Can’t comment,” AIFF’s deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan said when asked, while Marquez didn’t respond to text messages.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey is expected to have a conversation with Marquez once the Hong Kong clash gets over, though that is unlikely to persuade him to change his decision.
Co-coaching a burden
The Spaniard took over from Igor Stimac in July last year on a three-year contract, agreeing to co-coach the national team and FC Goa to relieve the cash-sensitive AIFF of some of its money woes after a $400,000 compensation to his predecessor for unilateral termination of contract.
But after a winless run in competitive games for a year and only one friendly win in overall seven games with highly-paid but underachieving bunch of players and a growing sense of disillusionment involving the AIFF in the international set-up, Marquez has decided to extend his contract with Goa that ended in May.
Sunil Chhetri has come out of retirement to play for India. Photo: AIFF Media
It allows Marquez to return to the known confines of Indian club football, where he has enhanced his reputation with a Super Cup victory to take Goa to the Asian Champions League qualifying play-offs.
Marquez might have an escape route ready but what about the players? How would they justify their ineffectiveness in their 2-0 defeat in Thailand, six days before the Hong Kong game, having only managed a goalless home draw with Bangladesh in their campaign opener on March 25.
Apart from their well-established difficulty in scoring, they have also found it tough to cope with sustained pressure from speedy, quick-feet opponent attackers.
Goals a premium
Fixing deficiency in these key aspects requires time that Marquez don’t have, while finding a quick-fix has been far from easy. Not even an SOS call to Sunil Chhetri to come out of retirement has helped so far.
In close quarters, Marquez has expressed his frustration at difficulty in motivating his pupils to play for the badge, with a reminder to AIFF of pending dues and allowances from players a day before their Thailand friendly not helping matters.
But all these would become a footnote if they win, which on paper shouldn’t be much of a task considering the 153rd-ranked Hong Kong are 26 slots behind India and could only play out a goalless draw with Nepal in their last friendly after a goalless draw wih Singapore in March.
But to win Marquez’s boys have to score and only five goals in seven outings (four draws, two losses, one win) despite trying out several players and combinations is enough to point out that confidence in-front of goal is in short supply though they could take heart from their 4-0 win at the same stage in 2022 the last time the two sides met.
But that seems like a long time ago, with new coaches at helm, in Marquez and Ashley Westwood, whose prior experience of coaching in India, along with the presence of naturalised players at his disposal, would come in handy in a sold-out, new 50,000 capacity Kai Tak Stadium.
Match details:
Kick-off at 5.30 pm IST.
Live streaming on Fancode.
India head coach Manolo Marquez is set to leave after their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong on June 10. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
