Igor Stimac and his men will be back in action when they feature in the Tri Nation Football Tournamenr starting from March 22. The Croatian has said that India will do everything to win the trophy.
The tournament will take place in Imphal and will see neighbours Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic feature in the tournament.
Ahead of the tournament Igor Stimac sat with the media and answered some of their tough questions. He spoke on various topics starting from his journey as Indian head coach to preparation for the upcoming Asian Cup.
In two more months, Stimac will complete four years as India’s head coach so when asked about his journey, he claimed it to be very difficult. He highlighted how people have high expectations and dreams but to succeed time is needed and wants the stakeholders in Indian football to come together in national team’s aid.
“It has been a difficult journey,” Stimac replied. I say that because the expectations are huge on India. It’s wonderful to have dreams. There is no life without dreaming about achieving things. And to succeed, time is precious. You can count on fulfilling your dreams if you are provided time to work. I just hope that the next eight or nine months will serve us well to prepare for the Asian Cup. The calendar for the next season is going to be difficult. We want to utilise the September, October and November international windows well, and I hope all stakeholders of Indian Football get involved and help the national team.”
Stimac highlighted that his players don’t go on the field with any fear of the opponent. He points out that the mindset has changed drastically and believes that the team can show great style of football, similar to the one they played in the Asian Cup qualifiers in Kolkata.
“I would again say that the qualifiers in Kolkata proved that we can play good football. I’m quite sure that I’m not arrogant in saying that everybody was happy after those games, satisfied with the football India presented. And we are going to stay on that path – not losing our souls, whoever is on the opposite side. We are not going to go out on the pitch with fear, that’s for sure,” Stimac highlighted.
Captain Sunil Chhetri and with him, his Bengaluru FC teammates, Sandesh Jhingan and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu are the core of the Indian team for some years now. Even stimac admits that. However he also understands that with time some roles of players will change. He points out Chhetri’s current ISL season with BFC, where he has not started each and every game but has still managed to make the biggest impact by scoring decisive knockout goals.
“Sunil Chhetri was nowhere to be seen this season. He was on the bench, waiting, preparing himself, working to take his weight down a few kilos, which is very difficult to handle at this age. But when it was most needed, he was there for his club, helping them, and taking them to the finals. He scored the most decisive goals. At his age, this will probably be his farewell from football. I’m quite sure that the upcoming months will be the best for Sunil Chhetri,” Stimac shared his thoughts on Chhetri.
Lastly he finished the interaction with the media sharing his expectations from the Tri nation tournament. So when he was asked about his expectations from the tournament, Stimac replied,”Winning it. We are the hosts, and we’re going to do absolutely everything to win the tournament. Obviously, it’s not going to be easy because we’ve got a lot of players who will be involved in the Hero ISL Final, who will be physically and mentally exhausted. Half of them will be in a worse position because they will be defeated in the final. And my job is to regenerate them, help them bounce back and find the strength and ability to play these two games and represent India in a good way.”
The tournament will start from March 22 and will hosted at the historic Kuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal, Manipur. It will be a tricky contest for the Indian team aaginst two challenging teams in Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic.
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