By IANS
Ludhiana : If India want to qualify for the World Cup, they should now start preparing the under-19 team, said Mohun Bagan’s Brazilian coach Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva here Friday.
“Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be tough as there is no time left for preparation. But if India want to qualify for the 2014 edition, then they should start preparing the under-19 team right from now,” said Pereira, who guided the famous Vasco da Gama club to become Brazil’s national champions in the 1970s.
In the first round of World Cup qualifiers for the Asian leg, India will face Lebanon in their away match Oct 8 and will host the West Asian country in the return leg Oct 28.
“It is very important to spot talented youngsters now so that they will be prepared when the next cycle of World Cup qualification comes around,” he said.
“Players such as Bhaichung (Bhutia) and Shanmugham Venkatesh won’t be around by when the qualifiers for the 2014 start. So there is need to look for their replacements,” said Pereira, who had coaching stints in countries of Europe, Middle East and South-east Asia.
“There should be a pool of under-19 players who should undergo intensive training for five to eight years under qualified coaches,” he said.
The 61-year-old Pereira added that to create such pool India needed academies and different age-group tournaments.
“I do not have a single U-19 player in Mohun Bagan as we prefer getting star players from other clubs. But in my country an U-16 player gets to play about 65 games in a year,” said the Brazilian.
On the issue of clubs not releasing players for national duty, Pereira said that the federation and the clubs should co-operate for the national cause.
“Ideally, the national coach should take two-three players from each club for the long duration camps. In this way, his purpose is served without weakening the clubs too much,” Pereira said.
“In Brazil, the situation is different as there are about 5,000 clubs and nearly 20,000 professional footballers. Also, most of the top Brazilian players are now based in Europe so the national and local leagues are not affected so much,” he said.