Kolkata: Six matches into the Indian Super League (ISL) season, Mohun Bagan Super Giant have toted up 22 bookings, the most. Two in the support staff and midfielder Lalengmawia Ralte are one yellow card away from suspension.
Ask Jose Molina if Mohun Bagan has a discipline problem with 75% of league phase remaining and, after saying he is not worried about it because of the depth in his squad, he paused. “I don’t know whether to say this is good or not but Mohun Bagan brought me here to win the ISL, not fair play trophy,” said the head coach and former Spain international.
It is not as if he is telling players to wade into opponents but referees’ decisions are not something he can control, said Molina.
Mohun Bagan missing out on Asian Champions League 2 for refusing to travel to Iran for safety reasons too was something the 54-year-old former goalkeeper could not control but that has not made dealing with it easier.
“Of course, I am not happy with the decision of AFC (Asian Football Confederation).” Like with yellow cards, the decision can be right or wrong but “we can say nothing.”
Molina said playing in Asia was one of the reasons he took the job in the summer, his first assignment after being sporting director in the Spanish federation for the senior men’s side to the under-15s.
“I wanted to prove that an Indian team can be strong in Asia but it will not be possible this time. Now, we have to forget ACL2, try to win ISL (league shield) and be at ACL2 next year. And then prove to everybody that an Indian club can be a strong team in an Asian tournament.”
It is now for East Bengal to do that, in the AFC Challenge League. It is good for a country if its clubs do well in international tournaments, said Molina. On East Bengal that is as far as he will go.
By now the palette of the conversation, it is more of that and less of an interview even though it was happening in Mohun Bagan’s media room on Tuesday, had become varied. It would be with someone who has played with Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid and with Lionel Scaloni at Deportivo La Coruna. Someone who has won La Liga, Copa del Rey twice one of them at Santiago Bernabeu and against Real Madrid in the year they turned 100 – every title including ISL in 2016 and the treble in Hong Kong is as special because winning is so difficult, he said – was part of the Spain squad in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euros and headed the pyramid of national team coaches that included Luis Enrique, Luis de la Fuente and Santi Denia.
On Molina’s watch, Spain won the under-19 and under-21 European championships and the silver in the Tokyo Olympics. His brief with Spain’s national teams was to “update” the style that worked so well from 2008 to 2012. “Trying to be a little bit more direct and look for the players who could do that.” Tiki taka has not made way for something else, it has evolved to where it is not necessary to play too many passes, he said. An evolution more difficult for Enrique than De La Fuente? Yes, said Molina.
A strong CV (189 matches for Atletico and 169 for Deportivo) did not translate into more than nine international caps, after a debut as a left-winger because all substitutions had been made. “It was still great because in that moment I became an international player,” said Molina referring coach Javier Clemente giving him a run out against Norway in 1996. Molina’s final international too was against Norway, in the 2000 Euros. Spain lost 0-1 because of his mistake and Jose Antonio Camacho didn’t use him again.
“I think I had the talent to play more matches for the national team but you have to respect the decision.”
Even if fleetingly, it was about the only time in 55 minutes of this interaction that Molina had lingered on the past. “I live in the present and try to enjoy it. The only time that matters is now.” Full recovery from testicular cancer, Molina said, has influenced his worldview.
The present has been pleasing. Three wins and three clean sheets after an iffy start has taken Mohun Bagan to 13 points, three behind leaders Bengaluru FC who have played a round more.
Crucial to that has been Greg Stewart’s creativity, Anirudh Thapa rediscovering his ability to be influential in and near both boxes, forwards and hitting form and the pairing of Tom Aldred and Alberto Rodriguez in central defence.
The 0-3 defeat to Bengaluru showed that we lacked balance, said Molina. Since Aldred and Rodriguez started together against Mohammedan Sporting, Mohun Bagan have scored seven and conceded none.
