Diego Forlan returns to Calcutta, India to instill his managerial philosophy

Uruguay caretaker manager Diego Forlan in training ahead of the friendly against India. (PTI) TimesofIndia.com in Kolkata: Diego Forlan with his curls of golden hair is unmissable. The FIFA World Football Museum has one special memento: the headband the Uruguayan wore during the 2010 World Cup, where he was joint top scorer with five goals. On Monday, the interim manager of the Uruguayan national team wore a similar headband in Kolakat, hundreds of kilometers away from the events in South Africa.He was already here. Him and his distinctive white hair band. Except for 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. It will be the Salt Lake Stadium lit up for the interim Uruguayan manager and his team on Tuesday night when they take on India in a FIFA friendly.Appointed as interim manager after Marcelo Bielsa stepped down, these are big shoes to fill. Moreover, it comes in difficult times.The two-time World Cup champions were knocked out early in the North American extravaganza after failing to win in a group that included Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. Before the last game against Spain, the team clashed with Bielsa over the tactical approach. With the World Cup ending in disaster, the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) canceled the team’s chartered private return flights and forced the players to return home on commercial flights as a disciplinary measure.“When I was a player but now as a manager, you have to understand that you’re going to win and you’re going to lose. When you win, you’re not the best. And when you lose, you’re not the worst. So this is something you need to have that balance,” Forlan said on the eve of the India-Uruguay clash.

Uruguay caretaker manager Diego Forlan in training ahead of the friendly against India. (AP)

“If you talk about 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’re not going to say they’re not good players. You’re not going to change the way you’re going to change.”For Forlan, instilling his philosophy of football is paramount. The Montevideo-born forward made 525 appearances and scored 222 goals in his senior career. His storied career saw him win the Premier League, FA Cup and Community Shield with Manchester United; Europa League and UEFA Super Cup with Atlético Madrid and the 2011 Copa America title with Uruguay. As his journey led from Uruguay to England, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Hong Kong, he collected a lot of things along the way.“As a human being you are always learning and gaining more experience. As a player I had the opportunity to play on different continents, at great clubs where I learned a lot, like when I was here in India, Hong Kong and also in Japan, and when I was in Europe, also in South America.”“So you always try to learn something about everyone. I had great teammates, great coaches and also in the family, a brother, a father. I really enjoyed football when I played, now I really enjoy watching and being a manager, of course. I want my team to play well, we have really good players, talented players. And I know that our team has the opportunity to play as a good team, to play good football,” he explained.

Uruguay caretaker manager Diego Forlan at a press conference ahead of the friendly match against India. (AP)

At the same time, he emphasized that he does not want to be typecast based on ideas about the way South American teams played their football in the past. The Uruguayan, who is of Basque, Irish and Italian descent, has been pushing for his team to adapt to the situation, the opposition and where they stand.The 20th-ranked team enters the final friendly of this window after a loss (1-3 vs. Japan) and a win (4-1 vs. Korea). With India, a team much further down the pecking order, Forlan is not going to let up. He was equally impressed by India’s show against Panama and the first half hour against 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 hurt you and they can play well. So you have to respect everyone. We know it’s not going to be easy. Playing here, the weather, the humidity, you have to adapt too.”“That’s why we came early. It was good for us to adapt to this weather, different from Japan and Korea. So we know it will be a tough game,” he continued.