Manama: National  soccer team coach Sergio Batista is excited and optimistic about his next mission – to break  new barriers with Bahrain.

The Argentine, who signed a two-year contract with Bahrain Football Association (BFA)  to manage the national team, believes the country has the talent but is lacking in some important aspects of the game for its development.

“I see a lot of players with good talent and potential in Bahrain but things need to change in order for them to reach their full potential.

“Ten teams in the top division of the league are too little. The structure needs to change. A regular national team starter should be playing around 40 matches per season but in Bahrain that number is halved,” he said. 

Batista complained about the sport not being a profession in the country as compared to his homeland. 

“I see a lot of players working here along with playing football which means football is not a profession. But where I was brought up, football was considered a job,” said the coach who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 under legendary Diego Maradona’s captaincy.

The 52-year-old added that lack of professionalism in the Bahrain football community makes his job difficult. 

“There are times where I am required to have two training sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. However because the players are committed to a full time job they are unable to train in the morning,” he said. 

Batista, who previously led the Argentine Olympic team to gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games in 2008, is known for his strict approach to discipline. The first victim of this uncompromising and professional approach is  Waleed Al Hayam who was kicked out of the national team training camp for missing three days without an excuse. 

Batista stressed the importance of player development at a very young age and the difference it makes. “Preferably a player should start playing football at the age of six or seven because they learn more at that age. 

“This is how it is in Argentina. A player in Argentina lives for football and nothing else from a very young age but here it is different.

“However, everyone in Bahrain is ready for a change and wants to see a big improvement, but as it happens in every project, it will require time. Right now every national team under the BFA is following a specific programme to keep consistency with the different age groups,” he said.

Under Batista’s guidance, the BFA have hired separate fitness coaches for the under-17 national team, Olympic and the first national team which proves that they are looking into developing youth footballers.

Signing his contract a couple of days before the World Cup qualifier against the Philippines, Batista did not have time to look at the players carefully and choose his rooster.  

“I was given a list of players who were going to be called up and I had no time to go over it so we stuck with that,” he said. 

“The match didn’t go as planned as we were very tight on time and could not fully prepare for the fixture. Keep in mind that every national team around the region are strengthening their squads. Therefore the Philippine’s team that we played against was not the same that Bahrain had played before. They have totally changed.

“It was a mistake not to call on Sayed Adnan to the squad as he is a vital player and could have made the difference. But that is something beyond my hands as I was sticking to a list given to me. We have made that up and called him for our next fixture,” he explained.

Batista will be depending on a mixed group of players in the upcoming matches. He has recalled Hussain Baba and Sayed Adnan for the experience they carry and hopes they pass it on to other players around them.  

“I did not see any league matches as I signed my contract during the last two weeks of the season and that is why a mixture of players will be called up. However this will change as we look at players from all age groups to support the national team. 

“The idea I have for the future is to give the younger generations a chance to represent their country at the highest level should they deserve it,” he said. 

Batista, who spent his entire playing career as a defensive midfielder in Argentina, had previously managed the Argentine national team as a successor to Maradona in 2010 but was sacked due to poor results in Copa America. 

He then moved to China to coach Shanghai Shenhua for two years before being appointed coach of Bahrain national team.