Following the announcement from the All India Football Federation, announcing head coach Manolo Marquez of FC Goa as the new head coach of the national team, former coach Igor Stimac congratulated and wished him success.
Stimac’s message on Instagram read, "Dear Manolo, Congratulations on being named the new India head coach. The journey won’t be easy, but your experience with Indian players speaks for itself and you are best suited to take the Blue Tigers to the next level! Good luck my friend."
Marquez will juggle dual responsibilities as the head coach of both the Indian national team and FC Goa in the ISL, with his contract at FC Goa extending through the 2024/25 season. After that, he will dedicate himself fully to his national team duties.
Stimac’s message holds a layer of irony, considering he had previously cautioned the nation that attracting a high-profile coach for the senior men’s national team would be challenging. "He will know immediately but I can tell you for sure, not big name coach you can get. Everyone knows what kind of things we deal in India with football, how we operate, so you might get someone who's desperate for the job at the moment," Stimac had said in his final press conference.
The irony deepens with Stimac's remarks, where he highlighted the difficulties they faced with securing reliable support, mentioning, "Throughout the time we were renting match analyst from Goa. Always having problem 'is he going to come or not going to come', 'is it possible for him to be with the team'. We were stealing the platforms from FC Goa Wyscout and that's how we operated, and no one knows this," Stimac had further said in the conference.
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