Image not recoveredAn Executive Committee meeting of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) held at the Football House, New Delhi on Friday has decided to appoint Armando Colaco as the interim coach of the Indian national football team for a period of four months. The former Dempo Sports Club coach will now be in charge of the national team for the pre-World Cup qualifiers against United Arab Emirates (UAE) and also two international friendlies prior to the qualifiers.
The 57 year old Armando Coalco has been the coach of the Goan giants since 2000 and is tipped as one of the most successful Indian coaches in the history of the national football league. His major achievement at Dempo came when he took the club to the semi finals of the AFC Cup in 2008. Colaco has also managed Churchill Brothers earlier in his career before joining Dempo.
India will be playing their first leg of the Pre-World Cup qualifiers away from home on July 23, while the return leg will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on July 28. Their two friendlies against Maldives and Qatar on July 10 and 17 respectively, will be played away from home. The team will also be having an acclimatisation camp abroad to prepare for the fixture. It has also decided to hold a friendly match between the Olympic teams of India and Pakistan, subject to clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Committee also decided that National Team midfielder NP Pradeep should make a disclaimer through a National Daily that he has not posted any derogatory comments on any social networking websites and also apologise for any disregard caused to the AIFF and its officials.
The association has also requested Doordarshan to live telecast the semi finals and finals of the 65th National Football Championship for Santosh trophy being held at Assam. The Executive committee also referred the case of suspended Shillong Lajong FC player Tuboi to a Player Status Committee slated for May 27, 2011.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 20 May 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.