Published By: Ritayan Basu
Last Updated: November 19, 2023, 21:19 IST
Igor Stimac speaks to the Indian males’s soccer workforce
Indian males’s soccer workforce head coach Igor Stimac feels that India are actually completely able to pulling off a shock or two.
Four years in the past, on a heat September evening, in a 2022 World Cup Qualifiers outing in opposition to Qatar, a gritty India survived a wave of assaults to carry the powerhouse of Asian soccer to a goalless attract Doha. The man who guided India from the sidelines was head coach Igor Stimac.
The Croatian would as soon as once more sit on the bench when India will cross swords on Tuesday with Qatar once more in one other World Cup qualifying match, this time for the 2026 version within the US, Canada and Mexico.
No doubt, Stimac and his wards would take the pitch on the Kalinga Stadium a much more assured lot than they had been initially of the marketing campaign. The win in opposition to Kuwait within the tie introduced a magical change to the complete state of affairs. Now there are severe expectations surrounding Sunil Chhetri and his males; a constructive end result in opposition to Qatar would undoubtedly not go away anybody bewildered.
Stimac agreed that India are actually completely able to pulling off a shock or two, however shouldn’t be able to decrease his guard.
“We have analysed Qatar from every angle and position and know very well what they are capable of in terms of speed and strength. Their defensive and offensive positions are immaculate, which they demonstrated against Afghanistan by scoring eight goals. They could well have scored eight more. It is going to be very difficult and I just want the boys to enjoy their game in the next match. The first and bigger part was accomplished by winning against Kuwait, now I want the boys not to take any pressure and show their quality against Qatar,” he stated.
“It is very motivating as we defeated the best opponents for the second position. We have to be in the top two positions to go to the next round of the qualifiers so, this helps in our goal of reaching the next round. Qatar are one of the pre-tournament favourites from the group. We do not have high expectations but we know we have a chance and we have to grab that with both hands,” stated Stimac.
The head coach, whose boys had day of coaching on Sunday, stated there was no new-discovered confidence within the workforce. “I would say that we were never short of self-confidence. But each win boosts your self-confidence. We showed that we had high self-confidence in the King’s Cup and Merdeka Cup.
“We have worked on the change of the mindset over the last few years. Now our boys believe that they can beat anyone,” he identified.
Coming again house from Kuwait with three factors within the pocket is, based on Stimac, a matter of big reduction and a creditable achievement. “Our main worry was the impact on the quality of the starting XI owing to the injuries. Losing the likes of Anwar (Ali), Ashique (Kuruniyan) and Jeakson (Singh) was a big blow for us as they were the young players who brought energy and quality to this side. But we were able to get over that crisis against Kuwait by sheer hard work and also by having a good pool of players for the national team that helped us find the right replacements,” he stated.
