I must hasten to say that this is just the beginning and for me this game is not about the result but about application. This game will give me an idea of Butler as a coach. Yes; the result is important but at this early age, it is more about performance and outlook that is important to me.
The players called into camp only met for the first time on Sunday and by the time the game is played, Butler would have had only two days to work with them. This is new territory altogether. This is a new start altogether. Butler picked his squad last week and there were a lot of surprises. Welcome surprises if you ask. From his first selection, you can see that he clearly wants to make it clear that the national team is not the privilege of a few select players from a few select clubs. He has cast his net wide and called players who on another day, under another coach would not have had a sniff at the national team. This can be both good and bad. Hopefully it will work in our favour. Gone are the days when the national team selection was predictable and we all knew who would be in the national team even before the national team was selected. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it was rather rigid.
