Midfielder Suresh Singh believes that the role of a player is to execute to perfection the role assigned to him by the coach.
India's senior football team will next be seen in action in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers, slated to be played from June 3 onwards.
"It (national team call-up) was never in my hand. I kept on focussing on myself, and my play. My logic is simple - if I am not called then I need to understand that either I am not ready, or good enough. Being in Bengaluru FC helped a lot simply because I regularly trained with five National team players, and even Khabra-bhai shared with me his experiences of the national team. That helped me grow in confidence," the official website of All India Football Federation (AIFF) quoted Suresh as saying.
"I am a coach's player. The role of the player is to execute the plans and stick to the role assigned to him to perfection. The coach will guide me and tell me what he wants from me for my team. I always try to gauge what the coach demands and thereafter I depend on his technical inputs. During the match, I just stick to the role assigned to me," he added.
When asked about how he is a coach's player, Suresh said: "If you ask me I always love to be the box-to-box midfielder. But there have been matches where I started in the wings. So there will be temptations to go for glory in certain moments, but as a player, I need to remember my role. Playing in different positions helps me to gauge the fines aspects associated with every position in the field."
India are scheduled to play Asian Champions Qatar on June 3, Bangladesh on June 7, and Afghstan on June 15 with all three matches to be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha.
"It's the ultimate dream for any footballer. The best of the country get to play here. And these players are talked about internationally. It may sound cliche, but that has been my dream. Having seen Amarjit (Singh), Narender (Gehlot) play for the country motivated me more. Dheeraj is also there in the squad with me here along with Narender. I feel more from our U-17 World Cup batch and the Arrows will prove themselves and earn the slot soon," said Suresh.
( With inputs from ANI )
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