Igor Stimac believes that this is a new face of Indian football

by Rounak Majumdar September 6, 2019

The man at the helm, Igor Stimac, turned 52 today!

He was supposed to receive a cherishable gift last night, but the men in Blue failed to hand the gift at the end moment. The team is playing for the joint qualification of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup where India lost to Oman by a scoreline of 1-2 yesterday in their opening campaign.

However, Igor Stimac explained that he has full faith in the team. The Indian National Team Head Coach mentioned that “players team has progressed a lot.”

“The players are quick-learners and that’s what makes me believe that we can do great things. We need to understand that we need to progress step-by-step,” he stated. “This is the new face of India and we have a lot of positive things to talk about, so let’s keep talking about them.”

“Everyone could see a new Indian team on the pitch – a team that was different from before, and one that has a bright future. We have many more options now in terms of players to choose from and we need to keep working on ourselves and move forward,” claimed Igor Stimac.

The skipper Sunil Chhetri opened the scoresheet for the Blue Tigers at the 24th minute. The Indian outfit had an exciting first half but crumbled to pressure during the dying moments of the second half. The team conceded twice within the last 10 minutes of the fixture. 

Although, Stimac is optimistic about the fact that the team is doing well and the fans need to keep faith in the Croatian’s philosophy. Igor stressed on the fact that patience is the key, and how with time, the team will learn to ”kill” games in the early stages of the match – keeping in mind the team created numerous chances where they could have been up by 3 goals within the first 45 minutes. 

“We could have scored many goals in the first half and killed the game then, and there. My players are fitter than the Oman players, but they are more experienced. A time will come when we are not going to lose games like this and put the game to bed early. But for that, we need to continue working hard, and be patient,” affirmed the Head Coach.

“We have been working on many things, such as ball possession, and handling the ball well in tight areas. One can see that we are very stable now in the midfield, where there is a lot of pressure. You can see Borges and Thapa play differently from before. They are fighting and winning the second balls, and their composure in passing in all directions is brilliant,” he commented. 

The coach concluded by saying, “The boys made me proud and I’m sure all Indian fans as well. The way they played and fought for their country, and ran and chased down the opposition players was something we need to be proud of.”

Team India will lock horns against Qatar, on 10th September 2019 in their backyard. The match will take place at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.

CREDITS: AIFF Media