Indian coaches in ISL hoping to take a leaf out of this feat
KOLKATA: Jamshedpur FC coach Khalid Jamil achieved an Indian Super League first 'double' over the weekend, when he became the first head coach — and also, the first Indian — to score a league double over Manolo Marquez, the FC Goa and current India coach. On Sunday, Jamil's Jamshedpur beat the Goans 3-1. In their away fixture in September last year, Khalid's men had won 2-1, their first game of the season.
"All the credit goes to the players. They are working very hard and are motivated. They knew that the game was important and I just told them to give their best and play their natural game," Jamil told the broadcasters' post-match interview afterwards.
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Jamil corners a fair share of the credit as well. This is not the first time that he has been successful in ISL. In the 2020-21 season, he guided North East United FC to the playoffs — also a first by an Indian coach. This time, Jamshedpur have reached the second spot since they won the Shield under Owen Coyle in 2021-22. Furthermore, at home this season they have been unbeaten in nine of their ten games.
On what this meant for the Indian coaches in the ISL, former India player and Bengaluru FC assistant coach Renedy Singh said, "I'm happy that his season is going well, but it hasn't finished yet. Jamil should just continue and I'm sure a lot of Indian coaches will be hoping that he succeeds so that the others can follow."
That Khalid completely outsmarted his counterpart on Sunday, was quite evident from what Manolo said after the match. "We didn't know how to play against them," conceded Manolo, "In the first half if the score was 4-0 for them, it was fair. We started okay in the second, but when they scored their second ... Finished!"
