Trying to give players time to prepare: Stimac

The Indian men football team’s ultimate target remains to qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup the team management is trying to provide as much time as possible for players to get ready for the remaining qualification matches, said head coach Igor Stimac.

India play Oman on Thursday and the UAE on March 29 before they start resuming their campaign in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier, which also doubles up as qualifiers for the Asian Cup. While India are out of contention for the World Cup, they remain in the race to make it to Asian Cup which will be played in China.

“Our target from the beginning has been to qualify for the Asian Cup. We have three games left in this stage of the qualifiers. We are trying to provide enough time for the players to put in quality work before those games,” said Stimac.

Stimac said that there is continuous competition within the squad for places. “When I became the national team coach, I even mentioned to Sunil (Chhetri) that he also needs to fight for his position. This fight goes on forever. Without this continuous fight, there is no success,” said Stimac.

“I cannot rely on the past. I can select the squad based on past results, but those players need to work hard. We closely monitor them, and then discuss which players fit into the starting XI,” he added.

Stimac will be up against a familiar counterpart when India play Oman -- his compatriot from Croatia, Branko Ivankovic will be in charge of the Oman dugout.

“My good friend Branko is with Oman now. He is a great coach. He has already coached top teams like Iran in the World Cup, and has won important trophies in his career. We both know each other well. We have seen Oman play against Jordan (on March 20), and we are confident. They are a patient but a physical side, and do not take a lot of risks. We need to find a way to do well against their style of play,” said Stimac.

He also said that he door is not closed for players in the I-League to find a place in the Indian national team but there is not enough quality at present.

No I-League players were selected in the 27-man squad that Stimac selected for the upcoming friendly matches.

“I think we did justice with the selection of players,” Stimac said in a virtual press conference on the eve of the match against Oman. “Others performed well in Indian Super League (ISL) as well but we need to think about the opponent as well. Of course there will be people who will always say some players deserve to be here but as the coach, I have to decide the team,” he further said.

Among those playing in the I-League who were not selected is Tiddim Road Athletic Union’s (TRAU) Bidyashagar Singh, who has been integral to his team’s surprise title challenge this season with 11 goals in 14 appearances. However, Stimac said that he is not satisfied with the quality in the league and the best players in the I-League end up playing in the ISL.

“I-League players are in contention for the national team. At the moment, there is no such player with regards to qualities, there is nothing to hide in this. The best players in I-League are supposed to join the ISL as the ISL scouts follow the league as well. I had seen I-League matches live last season and some players were great. Most of them are now playing in the ISL,” said Stimac.