“Friends, Indians, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Igor Stimac, not to praise him.”
Loads has been mentioned concerning the ‘changes’ and staff picks of the Indian males’s nationwide soccer staff after their 0-3 loss to Qatar on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
More hypothesis and criticism got here the top coach’s means after his put up-match feedback grew to become public.
The end result didn’t matter, he mentioned, including that some of the questions he had, grew to become clearer. Despite the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Joint Qualification conflict being the final earlier than the AFC Asian Cup.
“We did not get what we wanted. I was very clear, you give me time and I might provide results for you. Without the time, do not ask about the results or anything like that. Just forget it,” Stimac mentioned after the match.
ALSO READ | Result was Not My Priority: Igor Stimac Explains Changes to India’s Playing XI After Loss to Qatar
What the Indian coach could also be stating is the truth that he’ll get just a few days to coach together with his staff forward of the continental showpiece. He had been harping on the necessity for extra time, of at the very least 4 weeks for a nationwide camp. That won’t be doable given the calendar, selected by all stakeholders and that too lengthy again.
“I will go there (Doha) with pride to represent India with my boys. We are going to do everything but there is no time for us to work, 12-13 days is nothing to prepare,” he clarified.
India will go up towards Australia on January 13, with Uzbekistan (Jan 18) and Syria (Jan 23) being the opposite two groups within the group.
Three video games.
What Stimac is quite selecting to give attention to, is the prospect of including 5 extra prime-degree interactional video games to India’s schedule, with a second-place end within the World Cup qualifiers.
ALSO READ | ‘Lots of Positives’: Igor Stimac Thanks Indian Fans Showing Support During WC Qualifier Against Qatar
“For us the most important thing is the World Cup qualifier. Knowing that we are not going to get enough time for the Asian Cup, I don’t consider the Asian Cup as such an important tournament for us,” is the assertion from Stimac, which triggered an uproar on social media amongst followers.
“I need to make sure that we get enough points in our group in the World Cup qualifiers to make sure that we get five-six home games in the third round and that will be huge for Indian football for the future. So let us stop talking about the Asian Cup.”
But he did.
Talking concerning the gamers who’re sure to go to Qatar. Stimac title-dropped the likes of Apuia, Suresh Singh, Mahesh Singh and Sahal Abdul Samad, who look set to be named for the AFC Asian Cup. Hence, he defined the experimentation with new gamers towards Kuwait. Udanta Singh, for one, was singled out by the coach who is probably not donning the Indian shirt quickly.
So, arises the query. If World Cup qualifiers are essential, why experiment and check out gamers”
He had, actually, made it clear. “The result was not the priority.”
The Qatar recreation was the proper alternative to check out his gamers, with a constructive end result unlikely, Stimac opted for trial and error.
As issues stand, India slipped down to 3rd of their FIFA World Cup qualifiers, after Kuwait defeated Afghanistan 4-0 within the different match.
India will resume their qualifying marketing campaign after the top of the AFC Asian Cup.
