In my opinion, participating in I League Second division is the perfect opportunity for our reserve team| Kerala Blasters reserves team goalkeeping coach

Our young goalkeepers are so determined to develop their skills. Mursheed played many games in Kerala Premier League and he made so big progress since I came here. Sachin performed constantly during Reliance Developmental League, he helped our team a lot and he got a golden glove (6 clean sheets in 6 matches), he has the potential to play in ISL.Kerala Blasters reserves team goalkeeping coach rafal kwiecien opens up his experience in the latest interview with Football Path.

1)News updates show ISL teams can make their reserves to participate in I league, Please share with us your thoughts on it?

COACH : In my opinion, participating in I League Second division is the perfect opportunity for our reserve team. First of all, we can play more official matches during the season. Second of all, we can compete with other good teams, which can help us to develop our young players. It can be excellent competition for our goalkeepers who can have more actions to deal with during matches. I hope our team will join this League and we will show our good style of playing football as we showed in RDL.

2)How is your experience with the team, and what do you have to say about the Indian talents? 

COACH : My experience with a team is so good so far. I am here since the 4th of March 2022 so around 3 months. Our young goalkeepers are so determined to develop their skills. Mursheed played many games in Kerala Premier League and he made so big progress since I came here. Sachin performed constantly during Rialiance Developmental League, he helped our team a lot and he got a golden glove (6 clean sheets in 6 matches), he has the potential to play in ISL. Muheet plays a couple of matches and if he gets more chances he will perform well. If I compare Indian goalkeepers to Europeans the biggest difference is in the tactical area. Fortunately, our goalkeepers make fast progress. 

Regarding to trials for teams U14 and U17 I have seen that there are a lot of things to improve the Development of Indian Young goalkeepers. Those young goalkeepers need goalkeeper training.

We should deliver goalkeeper training for players U12. I think it is important for Indian teams who prefer Indian goalkeepers that foreigners. I will work 1 year more for Kerala Blasters Reserve team and I want to prepare some goalkeepers for the 1st team.

3)We have qualified for Next gen Cup in UK, how can this influence the future of the team, Shall we expect some signings of our players for foreign clubs?

COACH: It is a big success for our club, but we were so close to winning the Developmental League. We made many great chances against Bengaluru but we could not convert for a goal. I can not talk about a signing because I am not responsible for that. Of course, our club brings many benefits to young players and it is a good environment for their promotion and development of them.

4)Can stats really show the talent and potential in young players, Please share your thoughts from your experience?

COACH :For me, stats are very important. I am collecting many stats related to goalkeepers from our games. Because of stats, I can evaluate the performance of the player. It is so difficult to evaluate the potential of a young player. For me, potential means the tempo of development of a player. Stats can help us to measure the development of players. Stats can show the performance of a player. We can track the form of the player. We can see how many matches some players play. There is a study that goalkeepers who are one of the best in the world played the most number of matches under they become 23 years old. The number of clean sheets can be helpful as well. I have to say that stats can help us to identify a good young player.

5)How is your  experience been in India  so far? 

COACH : I am so happy to be here. I am so proud to be part of Kerala Blasters society. After coming here I got many messages from fans, it was unexpected. I am exploring Indian cuisine and in the next months, I would like to discover more places here. People are very nice. For example fans from the Manjappada group help me a lot with some situation at the train station.

6) What's your opinion about young players in the team, and other teams(RFDL)?

COACH : We have many good players. In the rest of the teams, I could see some great players as well. In my opinion, our goalkeeper Sachin Suresh was the best one. Just one other goalkeeper impressed me. The level of the RFDL was pretty good. It was a great competition.

7) Is India hard compared to other countries, a hard place to coach, given that football culture and mindset are still developing?

COACH: Working in India is not hard. One problem is that goalkeepers use to do not have goalkeeper training. Indian goalkeepers have systematic goalkeeper training a couple of years later than European goalkeepers. I hope that because of our U14 open trials we will find the best goalkeepers (U12, U13 and U14) every year and there will be still time to develop them.

8) What you see intresting about #KBFC?

COACH :KBFC has the biggest fan social group in Asia. I like the atmosphere between co-workers in the club. KBFC club is developing every year and I will give my best to support this club.