Manolo Marquez Era: A Promising Start for Indian Football

Shilpa Rajan September 6, 2024

Manolo Marquez led the team in their first match at Gachibowli Stadium as the new head coach. The Indian national football team began their Intercontinental Cup journey with a goalless draw against Mauritius. This was the opening game of the Intercontinental Cup. Syria are the third team in the tournament.

Manolo Marquez was appointed as the head coach after Igor Stimac was sacked. The Croatian manager had a rough time towards the end of his tenure. Marquez is also an experienced manager. He has managed some of the Indian player during his time at Hyderabad FC and FC Goa. The Spanish manager also led Hyderabad FC to the ISL title in the 2021-22 season.

Manolo Marquez: The First line-up

The Indian football team have begun the post Sunil Chhetri era. He retired from international football a couple of months ago. Marquez chose Amrinder Singh over Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. Asish Rai, Rahul Bheke, Chinglensana and Jay Gupta were part of the back four. Ralte and Jeakson Singh sat in front of the back four. Manvir Singh led the attack along with Chhangte, Anirudh Thapa and Liston Colaco.

This team faced a Mauritius side ranked 179^th in the FIFA rankings. India headed as the favourites as they have a better ranking. With the support of the home crowd, the team was looking for a win in their first match under the new manager.

Lacking the cutting edge

Manolo Marquez’s men were confident heading into this match. They took hold of the possession and ended the match with 65% of the ball. Indian players looked a bit confident with their passing. They had an accuracy rate of 85%.

Despite keeping the ball, the team failed to create enough chances against a team ranked below them. Indian players attempted 10 shots and only managed to hit the target once. Mauritius, on the other hand, attempted eight shots. They too tested Amrinder Singh on one occasion. The home team failed to break the deadlock and had to settle for a goalless draw.

Nandha Kumar, Subhasish Bose, Sahal Abdul Samad, Nikhil Poojary and Suresh Singh were introduced from the bench. They too failed to create enough impact in the game.

Manolo Marquez on team’s performance

“They didn’t give us too many chances. We finished very tired. It is clear that we didn’t train. It is a good game in terms of not conceding a goal and I am happy with the effort of the players. We can’t play worse than this,” Manolo Marquez said in his first post-match interview.

The manager also commented on certain areas where the team lacks and said, “We know the Indian players have a problem when it comes to physicality. We need to keep going. We need to improve in all areas. I am convinced that we will do that.” India will now face Syria in the next match on Monday. The Syrian team has a better rank and this will be a tough test for Marquez’s men.