'Associations have to take responsibility in scouting talent'

India's Youth Development Head Coach, Colm Toal feels it is very difficult to scout talent in a vast country like India but said State Associations have to take responsibilty in spotting grass-root talents in their respective states.
"Finding our best Players has always been a problem for our Indian National Team. I feel our State Associations have to take more responsibility in identifying and selecting the best Players in their respective States," Toal said.
"They then need to spend more time Coaching and preparing their teams for the National Tournaments from which we select our National Youth Teams," he added.

The man, who guided the Indian U-16 National Team to two successive U-16 AFC Final Phases, also stressed on the fact that national tournaments should be given much more importance for grooming the youngsters.
"The Cola Cola U-16 National Championship and the Dr. BC Roy Tournament are competitions with a long and rich history in Indian Football. The State Associations need to send their best squad to such Tournaments for the betterment of the sport in the Country," Toal said.
Talking about Indian football's future, he said if India can follow AIFF Technical Director Robert Baan's path they would be able to compete with Asian footballing power-houses such as Iran, Uzbekistan, Australia and Japan.

"I think everyone realises that Indian Football is at the cross-roads. Robert Baan has produced an excellent plan that outlines a way forward for Indian Football that will allow us, eventually, to get closer to a South Korea, Japan or Australia. The question is how will we implement it with our limited resources," coach said.