Date - 10/3/2010
Description - Coach Claude le Roy promised to stick with the Sultanate’s national football team and the players, and continue to work hard to further develop Oman football and prepare the squad for the future challenges. The Frenchman, who is credited with leading Oman to their maiden Gulf Cup triumph in January 2009, came under flak following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup.
Both the coach and the players were heavily criticised by the local media for the performance in last Wednesday’s final Group ‘B’ qualifier against Kuwait. In a must-win match, the hosts managed just a draw as visitors Kuwait qualified at the expense of Oman. The amount of media criticism and disappointment of fans forced the Oman Football Association (OFA) to call for a special meeting with Le Roy and coaching staff to ‘assess the team’s performance’, especially against Kuwait, and find out what went wrong in the Asian Cup campaign.
Speaking to the Observer, a day after Monday’s meeting attended by OFA board members including chairman Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy, vice-president Saif al Jabri, Talal al Amri, National Teams Director Mohammed Saleh al Alawi and assistant coach Hamad al Azzani, Le Roy vowed to stick with the team and work for the further development. The Frenchman though refused to reveal the details of the meeting.
“It was like a family meeting, a private discussion between the OFA board members and the coaching staff. And the details are not meant for public,” Le Roy said. “It is obvious to everybody what we have discussed. And let me tell you it is normal, a regular practice in football to analyse and assess a performance after a match or a tournament,” he added.
‘NEVER ON MY MIND’
However, Le Roy said ‘there has never been any kind of pressure from the OFA though the criticism has been severe after the Kuwait match’. He also said that despite all the criticism he has never thought of quitting. “I have never thought of quitting. The thought of resignation was never on my mind.” “But as I have been saying since the match, we are all disappointed. There are no excuses. Personally I am very sad.
In fact, it is one of the terrible results of my entire career.” Le Roy also refused to blame the players and their performance on the pitch. “We lost the Asian Cup berth not just because we drew with Kuwait in crucial match. We lost it when we drew with Indonesia right after the Gulf Cup triumph and we lost it against Australia despite a great performance from our boys.
“But I not blaming the players. I will never do that. I take the responsibility for the result and the failure in Asian Cup qualification campaign. “These players are the best. They are all quality players who are ready to serve the nation for a long time and are capable of achieving good results.”
FUTURE GOALS
Asked about his future plans, Le Roy said: “I like this team a lot and I have a lot of respect for these talented players. And I am committed to this team and I will continue to work hard to further develop Omani football.” He also said that he will continue to find new talents for the future of the game. “It is important to keep working for the future. Any country needs new talents and it’s the job of the coach to spot new players and groom them for the future,” he said.
But at the same time, the coach stressed that the current players remain the nucleus of the team. “In football, they say it is the players who perform and not the names. But we should accept the fact that sometimes the names do matter for the simple reason the players concerned are the best in the business. “So I think these current crop of players, especially the professionals, are the best in Oman. And we should develop the team around these players.”
“Our next target are obviously the 20th Gulf Cup (to be hosted in Yemen in 2011) and the 2014 World Cup qualifiers (in Brazil). We should keep working those targets in mind.” “But the immediate assignment is a tournament in Yemen,” added Le Roy referring to an international event scheduled for May. “We may have to play with our ‘local’ players. But that is our next big assignment,” he said.
observersports