Shamlan wants ‘good relationship’ with team

New Pakistan football coach aims to instill confidence in players.


Natasha Raheel August 25, 2013
Pakistan will play a practice match with Nepal U19 tomorrow before they begin their Saff Championship campaign against arch-rivals India on September 1. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:


Pakistan’s new head coach Mohamed Shamlan said that his priority will be to establish good relationship with the players in order to improve the team’s performance in international matches.


Shamlan, who will take over responsibilities as the head coach from Shahzad Anwar after the South Asian Football Federation (Saff) Championship in Nepal, said that his goal is to give players the confidence and belief they need to win international matches.

“These players are good, but they need to get rid of the stress,” Shamlan told The Express Tribune. “My priority is to establish a good relationship with the players. I want to be friends with them first, on and off the field. Football has both winning and losing. Sometimes even the best of players can’t play because they are under pressure or stress.”

In his second term with the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) now, Shamlan said that it has come a long way since 2006, when he was assisting another Bahrain coach Salman Sharida for the national team.

“I thank the PFF for the opportunity. They are now determined to improve the overall status of football in Pakistan.”



‘I don’t have a magic wand’

Shamlan said that he will need time to understand the psyche of the players and that the results will not be immediate.

“With the plan that I have, the results will start to come in six months,” said Shamlan. “I don’t have a magic wand that I can use to reshuffle the team right away. As a coach I’ll be different. The team will need to develop the right balance.”

Pakistan will play a practice match with Nepal U19 tomorrow before they begin their Saff Championship campaign against arch-rivals India on September 1. The team will continue to train in Nepal till then.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2013.

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