AFC Asian Cup: Renowned coach Bora Milutinovic comes calling to Indian team's training session

Doha (Qatar) : The Indian men's football team started its first training session of 2024, in Doha, Qatar, on a bullish note, their confidence boosted by a chat with one of the greatest coaches the sport has ever seen. It was a rather pleasant surprise for the boys on New Year's Day when former itinerant coach Bora Milutinovic from Serbia visited them.

Milutinovic, who may be well past his glory days, is renowned in the football world as the only coach to take five teams to the World Cup. Milutinovic has coached Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), United States of America (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002) to five consecutive FIFA World Cups.

Born in Yugoslavia, during the latter stages of World War II, Milutinovic commands massive respect from the footballing community in the Balkans and was immediately greeted by India head coach Igor Stimac, along with fitness coach Luka Radman and goalkeeping coach Frano Srdarev.

Milutinovic interacted at length with the Indian players ahead of their training session, sharing a few candid words with the coaching staff. Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was in awe of the 79-year-old.

“It was an honour to meet a big personality like him and listen to his words. The first thing he reminded us of is the most important thing in football,” Gurpreet was quoted as saying by aiff.com. “He asked us, ‘What is the most important action in a game’? Then he went on to answer his own question: ‘It is the next action’. That really struck deep,” he said. “If you score, your next action is to defend; if you concede, your next action is to attack. It was an honour to listen to his words of wisdom.”

Defender Sandesh Jhingan marvelled at the simplicity and humility of someone who has achieved so much.

“The first thing he told us was that his English was not that great, and then he proceeded to speak to us in perfect English,” said Jhingan. “He used certain words and phrases that made a big impact on me. He told us about the importance of having a dream and following it,” Jhingan said.

“I didn't think much about it at that moment because we were about to start training, but later when I came back to the hotel to reflect on the whole thing, it really got me thinking. Speaking to him was inspiring indeed,” he added.