It is but a twist of fate that Manolo Marquez‘s first assignment as India’s new head coach brings him back to Hyderabad, the city where he made a seamless transition from man to legend.
It was here, in the Deccan, that Marquez entered folklore by leading Hyderabad FC to their maiden ISL Cup title, merely two years after they made their foray into the league, and brought with themselves a wooden spoon.
The Spaniard almost guided Hyderabad to the playoffs in his first season in charge of them, to miss out in the dying stages only to the cruelties of statistically slanted numbers.
In his second, he created history and won a national title for a club from the Deccan for the first time in five decades. It is only apt that the fans who cheered their lungs out when he used to sit in their dugout get to see him first while helming the Blue Tigers.
With Hyderabad, Marquez’s job had been made easy by the presence of an extremely talented group of players who were willing to put themselves on the line time and again and who continually put mind over matter.
The Yellow and Blacks were a ragtag outfit before he took charge of them, and the way he turned their fortunes around in the three seasons he spent there is mercurial, and unfortunately, almost in connivance with the spectacular crash that would soon follow.
The challenges for Manolo Marquez as India’s head coach
With India, however, he does not face as uphill a task, although the consequences are significantly bigger than they had ever been when he had walked out into the Maidaan in Gachibowli before.
The retirement of Sunil Chhetri is bound to be the sole talking point among fans of all hues before India take on Mauritius on Tuesday, September 3, but the challenges for the Spaniard are far more superficial than that.
A team that has been under-performing for the last couple of years has to be brought out of the rut that it has jumped into of its own volition, and that is perhaps the least that Marquez would be expected to proffer.
With a non-existent midfield firing on the basis of names held deep in glory – sometimes venerated profusely across club lines – and a defence shakier than the wall of Berlin had looked on November 9, 1989, the 55-year-old has his hands full.
The search for a striker – indeed, the search for anyone who can score goals – will continue in Hyderabad even as Marquez tries to instill a sense of grace that he had done to Hyderabad when he was in charge of them.
For the Blue Tigers, however, it is far more than being brought into a philosophy of play that most already have an inkling of; it is buying the idea that they can be great again, and rise from the ashes of their own making.
A flurry of changes, or not
With Chhetri out of the picture, India are expected to make a flurry of changes for the Intercontinental Cup, but not too many that rock the boat and disturb the already well-established pecking order.
Admitted that finding a goal scorer has been tough at times for the Blue Tigers, but the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte and Naorem Mahesh Singh stepping up from the wings could add a lot of depth to the side’s resources.
The midfield, led by injured generalissimo Brandon Fernandes seems to be in flux, but the infusion of the new head coach’s tactics, along with Suresh Singh and Apuia’s experience should be enough to see them through.
Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad seem to be rejuvenated of late – as their performances for Mohun Bagan in the ongoing Durand Cup show – and Marquez would be amiss to let this opportunity slip.
The defence, built on two former Hyderabad FC stalwarts – Nikhil Poojary and Chinglensana Singh – may seem fragile and less tenuous than it was under Igor Stimac, although Rahul Bheke’s willingness to play at centre-back may hamper Sana.
Subhashish Bose and Mehtab Singh are among the rest of the defenders who can ply their trade at centre-back, with all of them holding their hands up to play second fiddle to the domestic giant that Anwar Ali has become.
Syria are currently the best-ranked team in the FIFA table among this lot at 93, while hosts India are at 124 and Mauritius at 179. The love affair that Marquez had with Hyderabad may continue well into its second phase if he manages to upturn the scales in his maiden outing as the new India head coach.
The winds of change are always blowing, except in Hyderabad – where posterity is valued almost as much – if not more – than the obscurity brought in by the hurricanes of epicureanism and its brothers. It is now up to the wily Catalan to adhere to that.
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