More Indian footballers should play overseas: Stephen Constantine

Mumbai, Sep 2: National football coach Stephen Constantine today said that more Indian players should play overseas as they have the ability to do match the foreign footballers. [India Vs Puerto Rico: Preview]

"I think more Indian players should try to go abroad. They definitely have the ability. I have coached in a number of places around the world and we don't have anything to be afraid of in terms of ability," said the Englishman at the press conference here ahead of tomorrow's international friendly against Puerto Rico.

"We need to start a little bit younger. There's a need to be a development process and that needs to happen at a very young age. If I was an Indian player in this current national team, I would have liked to play outside for my own development," he added.

Constantine said he was amazed at the sudden transformation of the ground in the suburban Andheri Sports Complex in less than 10 days since he came here and termed it "lastminute.com".

"About 10-12 days ago I came down to see the pitch and how the work was going on because you can't have an international game if the pitch is not how it's supposed to be. So I flew down and met Mr (Aditya) Thackeray (Yuva Sena chief) and his staff. I must say, I shouldn't say this but in India we can do anything we want, whenever we want, at "lastminute.com".

"In the space of eight-to-nine days, from when I was here to now, the improvement has been unbelievable. Am I surprised? I wish we would do this a lot more and a lot sooner so that I wouldn't have to lose what little hair I have on top of my head. They have done a fantastic job and all credit goes to them."

PTI