Ivan Nascimento transformed Yuva Bharati’s troubled pitch, introducing specialised techniques to prepare it for world-class football.

When it was announced that India would face Brazil for the first time in history, it raised so many questions, triggering mostly one word: infrastructure! This remained the grassroots problem for years. But now, people are claiming Yuva Bharati is more than ready for world-class matches.

Is it the start of changing the infrastructure? Hope is growing under the shadow of dreams. India hosted the U-17 World Cup in 2017; at that time, FIFA took the initiative to improve the facilities. Now, before hosting the five-time world champions, representatives from the Brazilian Football Federation came to Yuva Bharati; they gave shocking reactions, and after that, when AIFF asked for help from the Brazilian Football Federation, they sent Ivan Nascimento and Miguel Mercedo, who made the impossible possible.

Miguel said, explaining the terrible feeling he had when he first saw the Yuva Bharati, “When I arrived, it was raining. The previous day was the semi-final of the Durand Cup. The field was in terrible condition due to the rain. Uneven, bumpy. The rain was one of the reasons. Apart from that, I learned that a lot of matches are played here. Everything has a maximum capacity to withstand pressure. The field is the same. The condition of the practice fields here was also very bad.”

After seeing the pitch conditions, Miguel brought Ivan to take charge of the field and changed the whole story.

What did Ivan bring to the table?

Ivan came to Kolkata on 6th September, inspected the things need to be done on the field and made a plan. Before Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Ivan came with experience in fixing the Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia and various other fields in Latin America. Ivan analysed that the rain made the situation worse for the field, and it was too uneven. The process of fixing the ground started with creating holes across the entire field using specialised equipment.

“The lower layer of the soil has its own resistance, which needs to be broken to improve and maintain the field. If that resistance is not broken, the field cannot breathe, and without proper breathing, the field cannot survive,” Ivan said to Anandabazar.com

What measures were taken to fix the grass?

After that, the next step was to fix the grass. The existing grass had grown far too tall for a football field, so it had to be completely cut down first. The team then allowed the new grass time to grow before preparing the field with it. The large, open space at Yuva Bharati made the process much easier for them.

All the needed technology to field the ground was available in India. Ivan hopes that the field workers will learn something from his methods and will use them in the maintenance of the ground.