Indian players can do big things in the next five to six years: Des Buckingham

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham reckons the Indian players can certainly do big things in the next five to six years if they continue their good show. The Indian players have definitely shown improvement in their game while playing in the Hero Indian Super League and Buckingham feels the future is bright for Indian football.

There is still a lot of scope for improvement at the top level for the Indian players but there is no doubt that they are on the right track.

In the 2022-23 season, Mumbai City impressed in their first-ever campaign at the AFC Champions. The Islanders won two matches against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and finished in second place in Group B. However, despite these two big wins, they could not qualify for the playoff stages.

Buckingham is impressed by players’ hunger to learn and develop their skills at the top level.

“(Impressed with) How keen and willing are players to do anything that they can to try and develop. That is the one thing that hit my straightaway. The real hunger and eagerness to better themselves – consistently – that was (notable),” said Des Buckingham, in a podcast with Spotify.

“The real hunger and the drive that they have on a daily basis, on how good that they can be. That is what I’ve seen in a lot of other places, but not as consistently as I’ve seen over a six-month period.”

The Briton has all the experience of coaching in England, Australia, and New Zealand and feels the Islanders players can be as good as other big players he has coached in his career.

“I’ve worked with the game for 20 years now, and the players I’ve worked with in Mumbai City FC can be as good as some of the others I have worked with across the world. So, if similar to what we’ve done in Asia, if there is a similar framework around them to go and showcase what they can do, I think they’ll go on to do very well. So, I think it’s a very exciting time (for Indian football) and in the next five-year years they can go very big,” added the manager.