Suman Chakravorty: From pursuing a career in IT Engineering to the coach of the U-20 Football team, the life of Floyd Pinto is itself interesting. After Luis Norton de Maros stepped down as the coach of the India Arrows due to “personal reasons”, assistant coach, Floyd Pinto has been given the opportunity to lead India in the Cotif U-20 tournament in Spain, where India will take on heavyweights like Argentina and Venezuela. He has led Kenkre FC in the Mumbai Elite Division and has led AIFF Elite Academy U-18 to two U-18 I-League triumph. Now given the big opportunity to lead the nation, in his exclusive interview, Flyod Pinto shares his plans and targets of the Indian Colts to www.xtratime.in journalist Suman Chakravorty. Here goes the interaction:-
Q: From an engineer to the hot seat of Indian Football, how has been the journey?
Floyd: The journey has been very kind so far. I have received a lot of support not only now, but also when I decided to take up the opportunity of coaching. Even I received a lot of support from my engineering college, Don Bosco, starting from the professors, administrators. Even when I joined Kenkre FC, I also got support from the founder Adib Kenkre himself, Mr. Joshua Lewis, the CEO, my parents had by back, so it has been a very kind journey because all that I got is support and encouragement, which helped me a lot in the process to pursue my passion.
Q: Every coach in India dreams of becoming the head coach of the national team. Despite being so young, you have got yourself to the big stage, with the responsibility of preparing the Indian team in a tournament, probably to their biggest match in the last 30-35 years, where the colts will be taking on the mighty Argentine team. So how exciting does it feel actually?
Floyd: Well, it’s very exciting to be the head coach of any team. It was always a dream for me when I was at Kenkre. Right now I have to step to a much more organized setup and fortunately AIFF was the destination. Cotif being one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, so when the draws came out, it was quite expected the standard of fixtures would be Argentina. Initially, news was circulating that Jorge Sampaoli, the former Senior team coach would be there for the u-20 side, but since he is sacked, Pablo Aimar would take up the responsibility. I would be brushing shoulders with someone of the stature of Aimar. That is in itself is very exciting. It’s good for both the seniors as well as the junior teams, that they have been given the opportunity to play such high-profile teams. It is just a start, and until and unless we play such teams in a competitive environment, we will never realize in what position we stand and what things to do in order to progress. It’s just the beginning and I am very much thankful to SAI, Abhishek Yadav, director of the Indian National teams and AIFF, for organizing such tournaments. We just want to be competitive irrespective of results, we need the exposure. We are excited to be a part of it. You know the World Cup boys, likes of Abhijit, Rahim, they’ll be more than excited to face such teams. They won’t not step back. This never say die attitude is what exciting for any coach, there is nothing more I can ask for. So we are eagerly looking forward to it.
Q: As we all know we live in moments. Once such moment I would like to bring in is Jeakson Singh’s goal in the u-17 World Cup against Colombia. How will this particular moment turn out to be a confident booster, when India face teams like Venezuela and Argentina in the Cotif?
Floyd: See you can actually relate Jeakson’s goal to the goal Panama scored in this year’s World Cup. Even though they were losing 5-0 to England, that one goal meant the world to them. So hosting the tournament was the first breakthrough for India in world football and for us to get a goal in the World Cup was an even bigger achievement altogether. Obviously, that goal would motivate us now in these games, be it against Mauritania, Venezuela or Argentina. If we managed to get a goal or two, it would really be a confident booster, that we are capable of scoring against bigger opponents on a consistent basis and not for the sake of formality.
Q: I know pretty well that whenever you take a responsibility, you have some specific targets in your mind, you figure out your own ambitions and then you chase after it. So, when you are playing over there at Cotif, the shadow of Luis Norton de Matos will be there and you will autonomously working as the head coach of the team. My question is that what targets or benchmarks you have set for your boys to achieve there?
Floyd: The target we have set is that we have to be competitive in each and every game. We just need to bring out the positives in every matches, keep on working hard and then we’ll judge ourselves at the end of the tournament. One thing we cannot do right now at this moment is to be negative or have any doubts whatsoever. So in the last 10 days of training, we have been assuring us of our respective roles in the team, whether be in open plays or in set-pieces. The message is given loud and clear that each and every player should be free of any doubts and importantly play with a free mind. We cannot give excuses every time that we are an u-18 or u-19 team. Fact is we are playing in a competitive tournament so we just got to be competitive and that’s it.
Q: I can recall the first time I met you in November 2017. At that point of time, you were working under the shadow of Luis Norton de Matos, despite having qualities of your own. Then you were given the opportunity to be the head coach of the Arrows team in an I-League match but still the big figure, Matos was there. So what difference do you reflect from that life of Flyod Pinto to this life where you have given the head post?
Floyd: Of course, there is a difference, from an assistant coach to a Head coach, it’s miles apart. Every coach has a philosophy, has his own style of play and every coach will try to mould his squad to his image. As an assistant coach you have to work on the philosophy of the head coach. Personally, I would like to give my own opinion as much as possible as the assistant coach, but at the end of the day it’s the head coach who takes all the call. So as Mr. Matos will not be there, certain decisions are to be taken on the ground and certain changes can happen gradually. As a Head Coach I have to decide what is the state of the team right now. We are also wary of the fact that change will happen but it will happen over a period of time, as it cannot happen overnight, the process will be steady. The main aim is not being the assistant or the head coach, the main aim is to see the boys go with a positive and competitive mind set in the tournament. If I can do that then my job as a coach be it assistant or head coach is fulfilled. Once we are done with his, we can look forward to the I-League or may be in moulding the team in the philosophy I would like to build on, which would be a more realistic approach from my side as a coach.
Q: In the U-17 World Cup, we have seen India falling short to the physicality of teams like USA and Ghana. Fast forward to this tournament, your boys will be facing South American teams like Venezuela and Argentina and even Mauritania who likes to operate their game physically. So what plans do you have in coping up with this particular standard of play?
Floyd: Well the boys have already played against the likes of Ghana and Colombia in the World Cup. The teams which we’ll be playing in the Cotif will be similar to that of the World Cup in terms of physicality, superior to be precise. So banking on that experience, the boys are aware of what they’ll be up against. Secondly, as far as the preparations are concerned, we are aware of the teams we are going to face. As we are aware we can divide strategies and work on it. We have learned our mistakes from the World Cup and we’ll try to counter and cope up with the physicality and expose the chunks of the opposition’s armour, which will help us to score goals. To the credit of Mr. Matos, ever since he took over, he has brought in players who are physically bigger, like Anwar Ali and Jeakson Singh. As a result, it has somehow increased the average height of the team by some margin.
Q: Well, you have seen the Nicolai Adam era, as well as the Luis Norton de Matos era. So what are the positives and the negatives you would like to bring out from it?
Floyd: Look the positives would be that Nicolai made these guys supremely fit. He made them run a lot and focused on fitness as a priority. He realized if India had to survive in the World Cup, they have to run a lot. So these were the things that helped the boys in their formation years under him. Under de Matos, he brought a little more, classic European or Portuguese way of approach in the game, so it was only about running, it also being more compact and organized. So these boys under Matos, were more tactically smarter, not only in defense but also in the attack.
Q: Last question, you are of course aware of the fact that the remarkable East Bengal u-19 side have defeated Mohun Bagan u-19 team in the IFA Shield final, with most of their players are of U-16 and U-17 category. As a motivational factor is there any chance of these bunch of players finding a place in the u-19 or the u-20 team?
Floyd: The year we won the U-18 I-League, we lost in the Final of the IFA Shield. I can say without any doubt that the best team was the East Bengal team. It wasn’t a coincidence that I called 6 players from that particular team to the U-19 camp in Goa. But unfortunately, because of the level of competence, the players were not ready, despite of that there was one player who was very close in making it to the final squad was Suranjit Singh. I really admire him as a highly rated player. If Arrows are looking for a player of his age category, we would definitely bring him back. That group of East Bengal players who are 99’ born, is the best I have seen. They had a very good and an open style of play. I wasn’t aware of the current team being of U-16 and U-17 category. If those boys can add up such flair, then I am not surprised that this current bunch have won the IFA Shield. I am sure many of these boys will make it to the senior team in the CFL and eventually you’ll see them in the I-league as well. Another player I would like to mention is Mehtab Singh who has done really well and has earn some caps for the senior team as well. He is definitely one for the future.