Disappointed Stimac cites injury to players as the main reason for India going out of WC reckoning
Blue Tigers head coach Igor Stimac was left disappointed after his team failed to win any of the two 2022 World Cup qualifiers away games against Afghanistan (1-1 draw in Dushanbe) on November 14 and Oman (0-1 defeat in Muscat) on November 19 to virtually get out of reckoning a berth and the Croatian tactician on Thursday cited injury to key players like Pronay (Halder), Adil (Khan) and Rahul Bheke as the main reason behind the country’s early exit.
Speaking at the sidelines of the launch of the 13th edition of the Hero I-League which starts from November 30 and will be telecasted on DSport, Stimac said, “In regards to the last two games we played, we came back home bit disappointed with the results. But that didn’t undermine our fate and believe in what we do. We faced big difficulties in regards to opponents, climate differences which are not something we are trying to make an excuse. But the injury problems were something we find it most difficult at the moment. Losing the most important players in regards to stamina, to character, not having Sandesh (Jhingan) and Borges (Rowllin) there, missing Pronay (Halder) in first couple of games, also having early injury during the game against Oman were the obstacles, big enough, to stop us from gaining better results.”
The team is at fourth spot in Group E table with three points from five matches. They haven’t won a single match out of the five played so far in this second round of the qualifiers.
But the coach said his team has done better than the previous one which was coached by Englishman Stephen Constantine, who resigned after India’s group-stage exit in the Asian Cup earlier this year.
“When we look back at the results we need to be positive and the simple reason is the facts are there — in the last World Cup qualifiers, there were five consecutive defeats, now we have two defeats and three draws.”
“In the last qualifiers after five games we were with zero points now we have three points. And we have more games to come and we are on our way to achieve what we promise we are going to lurk on, that is competing at the 2023 Asian Cup doing better than before once we get there and preparing teams for the future and going into next World Cup (2026) qualifiers with much better and higher expectations, That’s the work we are providing at the moment, building up for the future and giving opportunities to young and new players who are many in this team in regards to Asian Cup to gain experience and become our future stars,” he said.
Discussing about the injuries to Pronay, Adil and Rahul during Oman tie which affected India’s game plan the coach said, “Pronay had suffered shoulder relocation after one dual in the second minute and it took us ten minutes to warm up on us for an unexpected situation which occurred there, we couldn’t let Pronay coming out and staying there with nine men in such an important game.”
“The second injury was to Adil Khan, who was ok before the game and there was no injury risk. I had an individual meeting with him before the start and told him that if there is any doubt in his mind about he can or he can’t, I will leave him out. But he said, ‘No, I am ok, I can start the game coach, I don’t feel any pain, no doubt at all’ but when you go into the game, you make few tackles, few different movements and all that, the pain starts coming back and unlucky for us, he couldn’t keep playing longer.”
“And at the end, in the second half there was Rahul Bheke also, who received another big pain in his groin which was an old injury he was facing, these are the things you are not expecting to happen especially in early stages of such an important game,” he added.
There is a lot of talk about India’s inability of scoring goals in the games and when quizzed about that, Stimac expressed his unhappiness at the clubs for not playing Indian players as strikers in the domestic leagues.
“Can you mention to me one player with Indian passport playing as striker and scoring goals in the leagues? Why are you expecting that we are going to score goals in the international games if we don’t have a single striker in the league?”
“And I don’t work with the players on a daily basis, I work with them five days before the game, but the good and important thing is that we are creating chances.”
“India is not anymore team who is going somewhere and fearing someone. No way. India wherever it goes, it goes without fear, it goes to play football and face it’s opponent, never mind who that is. And we are going to win the games to try to do that, we are not holding back inside of our box and fighting for our lives, we are there trying to play football whoever it is, on the opposite side. This is what we building upon, New Brave India — India with a heart, with the courage to play football, never mind facing problems with defeat because that’s the only way upgrading your game, bringing and developing new quality into your team.”
The 52-year old former Croatian coach is hopeful that with time Indian football will rise to the next level and will be able to rub shoulders with the best in Asia and the world.
“I am a very realistic person, in regards to expectations mines are not different to yours. And I said in the beginning that if we all stick together and positive it will be easier for all of us to gain better results. There are always some negative comments because of higher expectations but we got what we got, we cannot go beyond that. It’s a long process, it will take time, you know all the problems we are facing, we need to be patient and need to be altogether with a strong belief and faith in what we do and that’s the only way we can come to the successful path. That’s the way and the approach we are having and that’s how we work and operate.”
He also had a word of encouragement for the I League players and said that he will be keeping close tabs on Indian players in the league and their good performance can earn them national team call up.
“I am here to show that the Hero I League is for us as much important as Indian Super League (ISL). I am here to give my support to all the players that are going to participate in the upcoming season and to send them the message that all those who are having Indian passport are the possible candidates for senior Indian national team. I am here to tell them also that all the Indian senior players came through I League and that’s the way. It’s upon them how they going to perform, how they going to present themselves and how they going to represent their clubs. There is another message I’ll send to them, ‘I will come to watch the games live whenever I can’ to support once again whatever they do. To show them that they should not feel lonely and forgotten because they have great importance for Indian football future.”