Bengaluru FC reserve team head coach, Naushad Moosa has hailed the Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) for not only providing a platform for young players to emerge but also gives Indian coaches an opportunity to test themselves.
Among the eight teams taking part in the inaugural RFDL, seven clubs have Indian coaches in their ranks Kerala Blasters FC’s, Polish head coach Tomasz Tchorz being the only foreign coach in the league.
“This is a huge learning for me. I feel this is a platform where Indian coaches can test themselves and see where they stand. Indian coaches can prove their mettle here. We have all Indian players to work with and as much as it is an eye-opener for them, to be competing at this level and playing against good players, it is for us coaches as well. Trying to develop a winning mentality and helping them tackle pressure situations,” Moosa said on getting an opportunity to test his mettle as a coach.
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The BFC family congratulates the Karnataka State Football Team on entering the semifinal of the 2021-22 Santosh Trophy with a 4-0 win over Gujarat.
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“Here I can gauge how my boys can handle pressure. The first thing any foreign coach asks is how a player handles pressure and how is his decision making. Such tournaments help in that cause,” he added.
The 50-year-old joined Bengaluru FC in 2017 and since then has been with the first team as an assistant coach, also looking after the reserve team. Moosa was also tasked with taking over the club on an interim basis in the 2020/21 ISL season, moving to becoming the assistant coach once Marco Pezzaiuoli was appointed.
Moosa who guided the Blue Colts to back-to-back BDFA Super Division League title wins in 2019 and 2020 believes that RFDL will help improve players as it is extremely competitive in nature.
“The level of teams here is very high. For example, FC Goa even though they are losing, they understand the philosophy of the club. Jamshedpur, Hyderabad, and Kerala also have strong teams. So it shows how much this tournament benefits.
“Here all teams are competitive and all have good players. Two years back, when I was playing with second division teams also, my U-18s were beating them. But this level is totally different, and I am learning,” he added.
