TimesofIndia.com in Kolkata: Diego Forlan with his locks of golden hair is unmissable. The FIFA World Football Museum sports one strange piece of memorabilia: a hairband worn by the Uruguayan during the 2010 World Cup where he finished joint top-scorer after scoring five goals. On Monday a similar hairband was sported by the interim Uruguay national team manager in Kolakat, hundreds of kilometres from those exploits in South Africa.He’s been here before. Him and his distinct white hairband. Except in a different capacity. The 47-year-old spent one season with Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) in 2016 and played twice in Kolkata, at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium. On Tuesday evening, it will be the Salt Lake Stadium which will be lit for the interim Uruguay manager and his team as they face India in a FIFA friendly.Named as the interim manager after Marcelo Bielsa stepped down, these are big shoes to fill. Additionally, he’s coming in in difficult times.The two-time World Cup champions were knocked out early in the extravaganza in North America after failing to pick up a win in a group that featured Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. Before the final game against Spain, the squad clashed with Bielsa over tactical approach. With the World Cup ending on a disastrous note, the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) cancelled the team’s chartered private return flights, forcing players to return home on commercial flights as a disciplinary reprimand.“When I was a player, but now being a manager, you need to understand that you’re going to win and you’re going to lose. When you win, you are not the best. And when you lose, you are not the worst. So, this is something that you need to have that balance,” said Forlan on the eve of the clash between India and Uruguay.
Uruguay’s interim manager Diego Forlan in training ahead of friendly against India. (AP)
“If you talk about us not getting out of the group stage in the last two World Cups, of course, for a national team like Uruguay, with the players we have, it’s not good. We understand that. But we know it’s football and things happen. Just because we didn’t qualify (forward), we are not going to say that they are not good players. You’re not going to change the way you are.”For Forlan, instilling his philosophy of football is paramount. The Montevideo-born striker played 525 games in his senior career and scored 222 goals. His storied career saw him win Premier League, FA Cup and Community Shield titles with Manchester United; Europa League and UEFA Super Cup with Atletico Madrid and the 2011 Copa America title with Uruguay. As his journey went from Uruguay to England to Spain to Italy to Japan to India to Hong Kong, he picked up plenty of learnings along the way.“As a human being you’re always learning and getting more experience. As a player I had the opportunity to play in different continents, in great clubs, which I learned a lot, as well as when I was here in India, Hong Kong, and also Japan, and my time in Europe, as well as in South America.“So you always try to learn about everybody. I had great teammates, great coaches, and also in my family, my brother, my father. I really enjoyed football when I was playing, really enjoy now watching and being a manager, of course. I want for my team to play well, we have really good players, talented players. And I know that our team has that possibility to play as a good team, to play good football,” he explained.
Uruguay’s interim manager Diego Forlan in a press conference ahead of friendly against India. (AP)
At the same time, he stressed that he didn’t want to be typecast based on the notions of the way the South American teams of the past played their football. The Uruguayan, who is of Basque, Irish, and Italian descent, pushed for his team to adapt according to the situation, the opposition and where they stand.The 20th ranked team come into the last friendly of this window after a loss (1-3 vs Japan) and win (4-1 vs Korea). With India next, a team much further down the order, Forlan doesn’t intend to relax. Equally, he was impressed by India’s show against Panama and the first half hour versus Brazil.“India have some really good players. They know what to do,” he said. “There were some really nice combinations. If you give them time and space, they can damage you, and they can play well. So you have to respect everybody. We know it’s not going to be easy. Playing here, the weather, the humidity, also you need to adapt.“That’s why we came early. It was good for us to adapt to this weather, different than Japan and Korea. So we know it’s going to be a difficult game,” he continued.
