Sixty-two-year-old George Kottan — the present coach of Pakistan's football teams — is expected to take the team back to the heights it dreamt of reaching under previous coach Salman Sharida's exceptional guidance, and beyond.

Two years after being left high and dry by the Bahraini coach Sharida, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has finally found a man for the job. A UEFA pro, the Aussie Kottan was director technical for Hungarian Football and while working for the Bangladesh Football Federation helped Bangladesh win the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Gold Cup in 2003.

Kottan has been hired for one year initially, but the federation may extend his contract if satisfied with his performance. And the coach says he is up for the challenge. He is already full of ideas on how to popularise and uplift the sport in Pakistan.

“We have four provinces in Pakistan and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) should assign a hundred License 'C' (basic level) coaches to teach football to school children in each province,” he said, “Former national players would be ideal for the job. This way, we will have 400 coaches imparting football training all over the country.”

“I know schools here don't have football grounds but futsal is another form of football played on a much smaller scale, in a less than 30-yard court,” he added when reminded of the lack of infrastructure in schools. “With only five players per side, it can be played just about anywhere, even indoors, and is an excellent way of introducing children to football,” he pointed out.

In contrast to a practice followed by other PFF national team head coaches, Kottan has decided to hold camp in Karachi, the city of football legends such as Captain Umar, Hussain Killer, Turab Ali, Qadir Bux (Putla) and Ali Nawaz Baluch, who were some of the pioneers of the sport in Pakistan. He hasn't visited Lyari, which boasts of some 150 registered football clubs as yet, but hopes to do so soon to get an idea of the football talent in the country.

“I just had a good feeling about Karachi, it being Pakistan's largest city,” he said. “A big city means more playing fields and there has got to be more talent where there are more grounds,” he reasoned.

If there are any reservations about the security situation in Pakistan, particularly after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Kottan is not bothered. “I come from a very non-political background,” he shrugged, “I don't think anyone here would want to target such a person. I am only here to improve the level of football.”

When asked how he proposed doing that, the coach said, “I will be keeping my eyes open for new talent all the time. Many of the boys I've worked with in the past four weeks are young players with plenty of stamina. But they are not very experienced and somewhat lacking in techniques and tactics. Just running around is not enough. They need to be thinking players too.”

The coach is also of the opinion that there are no shortcuts if Pakistan wants some kind of recognition in the sport on the international stage.

“Fast success is not possible,” he said, “It will take at least eight to nine months to build a good team and we'll go from strength to strength from there on,” he concluded.