Mumbai City FC were the first team to confirm their head coach for Hero ISL 2016, announcing the appointment of former Costa Rican international and manager Alexandre Guimarães in April. The Maharashtrian team, however, formally introduced their new boss at a press conference last week. He was accompanied by Mumbai City FC CEO Mr Indranil Das Blah and fielded tough and compelling questions from the media.

Guimarães expressed his delight at the prospect of being in charge of Mumbai for the new season and made it clear that he had no second thoughts when the opportunity presented itself to him. “As the invitation came, I immediately had no doubts about it and this is the place I wanted to be…I am very excited to be here and to work for MCFC and we hope that we can produce a very good season and we are excited to start,” said Guimarães.

The past two seasons have seen Mumbai City FC finish seventh and sixth in spite of having a strong team on paper. When asked what the reason behind this could be, Guimarães said: “I know this situation but that is the past. Now, this is a new project here. And my experience in international tournaments has been diverse. And I know that a good atmosphere is very important to achieve the goals that the club has. I put a lot of emphasis on that because I know that it is a very big thing that can make a team competitive or not.”

When pressed for his thoughts on the state of Indian football and the progress made since the advent of the Hero ISL in 2014, he said: “I think this is a great idea! You have a contingent of different players and coaches of other leagues. It’s a big opportunity for local players to learn. And I think this [the league] is good thinking on the organisers’ part.”

The 56-year-old Costa Rican comes with an abundance of managerial experience, having been in charge of clubs in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, the UAE and China previously. However, he has never had to deal with a league whose format is as unique as that of the Hero ISL. Pressed on what fresh challenges this will pose for him, Guimarães opined: “When I first had a talk with the organization and Indranil, I told them that it is very important to have the whole squad to practice together from the beginning of pre-season. The organization is making big efforts to give me that. We already have the whole squad together. The second step, during these 5-6 weeks of training period, we won’t just practice but also play friendly games. From the moment we start the season, we don’t have too much time to practice. So, it is important to have the whole squad for practice in this period.”

He added: “Then I start 1-0 for Mumbai. Also, it is important to have 25-26 players to rotate between games. And the most important thing is what the players want to do. This has to be Mumbai’s season. To stretch our limits. We are here to work hard and do whatever it takes to achieve the goals.”

Guimarães also shared his thoughts with regard to the type of football he hopes to play with Mumbai and what he expects from star names like Sony Norde and Sunil Chhetri. “I think in today’s football you have to combine both styles (possession-based football and counter-attacking). And it also depends on what game your team requires and what squad we are building. We have very technical and skilful players to play a good passing game. But we have to watch our pre-season as regards what we are really capable of. And from the first game we must perform, and for me that means being competitive,” he said.

“For coaches, it is always good to have good players. I have watched their videos [Chhetri and Norde] and their CVs. I have talked to Sunil and he is very excited to come and play. We like to work with good players. And with more competition you know they are going to improve,” he added.

CEO, Indranil Blah also weighed in with his thoughts. “I think we are very clear about the mistakes made in the first two years of the league. Like someone here mentioned we had a very strong team on paper but somehow the team didn’t click. And that’s one of the reasons why we got the coach [Guimarães] on board. He has a history of getting teams to gel and play as a unit. We don’t want to make the same mistakes again. And if we make sure that we have the right team spirit, we will be competitive,” he said.

Mumbai City’s dubious defensive record saw them concede 26 goals last season, second only to Kerala Blasters FC’s 27. Asked if this was an area of concern for the upcoming season, Mr Blah said: “The idea is to, one: concede less goals, second, to score lots of goals and win as many matches as possible. And that’s all up to the coaches and players.”

Guimarães ended the media interaction by making it clear that Season 3 for Mumbai City FC will be more about team work than individual performances. “I don’t want to talk about specific names but I am very delighted with our spine. We have a strong goalkeeper, defender, playmaker and a mentally strong No.9. So, if you have a strong spine, both mentally and technically, all the other aspects are easy. Of course, we have names but the recent story of football says that names don’t win games,” he concluded.