Brasa's immediate goals

By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

NEWLY appointed India chief coach Jose Manuel Brasa's immediate goals are to guide the national team to the podium in the Men's World Cup in New Delhi (March 7-20) and also the gold medal in the Asian Games in Guangzhou (Nov 12-27), both next year.
Brasa is aware that he has a tough task ahead but the 55-year-old Spanish-born coach believes India are capable of making it big again in world hockey.
"If the India players play with their hearts and soul then it is possible to finish on the podium in the World Cup. It too short period to prepare a well-tuned side for the World Cup but India players are skillful and with a little bit of changes in their style will surely do slight improvement for them," said Brasa, who was the man behind Spain's women's team's gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, in Kuantan yesterday.
"My aim would be to put India on a path that will take them to greater heights. I will only select the best players to represent the country. I have been given a freedom to pick players and plan the training system."
India's only World Cup title was achieved in the 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cup, when the then side, captained by Ajitpal Singh defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the final.
Brasa, also a former Spanish Indoor hockey coach, signed a contract with the India Government to coach the national team till in the 2010 Asian Games with a possible two-year extension of his contract.
"I'm not in India to make immediate changes. The best style may only work for some teams and this is why I need to understand the culture of the game in India first before introducing new things," said Brasa, who will takeover the coaching duties of the India team after the 8th AirAsia Men's Asia Cup in Kuantan.
He also noticed that the India team compete in too many tournaments and spend little time on the training ground.
"India have been competing an average of one tournament in a month since last October that is too taxing."
"As for the World Cup, I will probably have about five or six months to work on the team as they will be on tour in between before the tournament. Time is not on my side by I have to work hard in that time frame. Of course, I have made it clear that the target is the Asian Games gold medal in Guangzhou," added Brasa.