Indian Under-17 team's performance at the FIFA World Cup was mediocre and the hype surrounding it was unjustified, National head coach Stephen Constantine fulminated on Sunday.
Constantine's outburst came during a media interaction before the start of the training camp here for the next month's SAFF Championships in Bangladesh.
Asked if he felt India U-17 team goalkepeer Dheeraj Singh's career was not handled properly (by his managers), Constantine initially said, "I have nothing to do with the looking after of that boy. That is not my job."
Constantine later clarified that his comments had been misinterpreted.
He said: “The question was put to me with regards to the goalkeeper Dheeraj who has not played for the last 6 months due to no fault of his own. I would like to utilise this opportunity to state that my comments were misinterpreted and now I wish to put the record straight.”
“I believe that we all have a responsibility to help these young players progress and develop after what they have experienced from the World Cup and the Hero I-league.
“The result in the World Cup and Hero I-league is irrelevant. Although they finished last in the Hero I-league, the objective was to give the upcoming Indian players more game time and to play regularly in competitive games week in and week out,” he stated.
During the media interaction, Constantine also commented on Indian Olympic Association's refusal to send the Indian team for next month's Asian Games.
"It is an appalling decision. They took it based on the results of previous Asian Games, which is held every four years. We are not the same team four or eight years ago. It was a huge disappointment. It will harm Indian football. I thought we had a good opportunity to qualify from the group," Constantine said.