Former India captain Somaya backs Brasa

Amitava Das Gupta

KOLKATA: Jose Brasa doesn’t have many backers in India, but what MM Somaya said on Tuesday will certainly be music to the Spaniard’s ears.

At a time when the search for the next national hockey coach is on in full earnest, the former India captain didn’t mince words in saying that Brasa’s contract should have been extended.

Brasa, who took over the reins of the Indian team in May 2009, had an eventful 18-month reign which culminated with the national selectors – former greats Ajitpal Singh, BP Govinda, Zafar Iqbal and Balbir Singh – writing to the government that his services should be discontinued with.

“I feel any coach should be given a term of four years to work with a team… Brasa didn’t even get two years,” Somaya told TOI on Tuesday. The three-time Olympian, who was part of the gold-medal winning 1980 Moscow Games team, was in the city to attend the finals of NIE Quizomania 2010, a school quiz organised by TOI in association with Bharat Petroleum.

He is aware that there were some negatives which worked against Brasa, like captain Rajpal Singh’s outburst and the selectors’ open letter. “No one can hope to have a smooth ride as coach of the Indian hockey team, there are bound to be ups and downs, and some problems along the way. You’ve got to judge if those issues are big enough to warrant action.”

Terming the issues that Brasa had while managing the Indian team as “minor”, Somaya said it would have been more prudent to look at the positives.

“To start with, I’d say that his tactical acumen helped the team develop over the last year and a half. Instead of encouraging the long balls from the backline, he stressed on the importance of ball possession and short passing which paid dividends,” pointed out Somaya, differing with Ajitpal & Co who doubted Brasa’s ability to produce meaningful and strategic inputs.