Coach em young, says former German footballer

KOZHIKODE: Indian football has seen many foreigners who have tried to cure its problems with a cosmetic job on the surface. But German national Frank Braner is different as he believes that these problems need to be tackled at their very root.Braner, currently the coach of Kozhikode-based club Quartz Soccer who are looking to fast track their way to the I-league in a couple of years, is a regular visitor to the country and a keen observer of its football scenario. He believes that the gap in quality between Indian players and their European counterparts are due to the age at which they are taught the basics of football. “In Germany, kids are imparted the first lessons of football when they are four or five. But here it is at 13 or 14 years that a player attends his first proper coaching camp. This gap of ten years is too much to make up later,” he says. The only way to up the standard of Indian football, he reasons, is to catch them young and nurture their talent.Braner is also of the opinion that the various associations must remain intensely committed to various long-term plans that they draw up and not abandon them mid-way for quicker results. “There has to be a long-term vision and everybody needs to work together to achieve it. One thing I have noticed here is that the level of cooperation between various state associations is less. This has to change,” he says. He is enthusiastic about Quartz Soccer where he has incorporated many of his principles and is hopeful that the club can make a difference to Indian football in the long run. “We have a very talented and young team with an average age of around 21. We also have an academy where a crop of youngsters are nurturing well,” he says. He adds that he hopes to see Indian players playing in the German and other European leagues sooner rather than later. “Ten years ago, it was hard to imagine African players playing in the German Bundesliga. But now they are doing very well in our league. So it is not impossible that an Indian footballer will do so in the near future,” he says. Braner, a strict vegetarian and teetotaler, is a former club footballer who played for German first division club Wormatia Worms. He is also the son of former FC Kaiserslautern player Harald Braner.