Al Khor, 24 Jan: India ended their Asian Cup campaign pointless and goal-less, and head coach Igor Stimac admitted that his team needs players with confidence in front of opposition goal, a significant statement considering the likely retirement of talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri in the next few years.
It’s no secret that the Indian team lacks a quality striker, apart from the 39-year-old Chhetri, though Stimac understandably would often play down such concerns in the past.
But, he chose to be candid after India lost 0-1 to Syria on Tuesday to crash out of the Asian Cup with an all-loss record.
“Scoring goals comes with having good goal scorers in the team, people with confidence in front of goal,” Stimac said at the post-match conference.
“The team produced enough chances to score enough goals. You all know why we are not scoring goals at international level. It will happen when we start having Indian players in centre forward positions (at club level). Only then we’re going to have many more goal scorers for national team.
“So, kindly raise that question somewhere else not here,” he said, clearly referring to the lack of Indians in centre forward positions in the Indian Super League clubs.
India lost all their three group matches and conceded six goals in the tournament, the worst in all the five editions the country had participated. They lost 0-2 to Australia and 0-3 to Uzbekistan before the solitary goal defeat to Syria.
“It’s a good learning experience for us. Overall, in three games, we proved we can compete at this level.
“Obviously, everybody sees the missing points when India play. (Regarding) the problems in Indian football, as much as you give that much you get at the end. That is my conclusion of this tournament,” said Stimac, who had demanded a four-week pre-tournament training camp but got just 10 days.
This was the first time India returned without scoring a goal, with Chhetri, the lone ranger for a long time, also having an ordinary outing considering his high standards.
The world’s third most prolific player among active footballers is in the twilight of his career and certainly has played his last Asian Cup. He had scored two goals each in the 2011 and 2019 editions of the Asian Cup, where India also failed to qualify for the knock-out rounds.
Stimac said he does not possess a magic wand to take Indian football forward in a short span of time.
“India never qualified for U-23 AFC Asian Cup. Then how will we have good senior players? How can we expect good results at senior level if we don’t qualify for U-18, U-20 and U-23 Asian Cup?
“I’m not a magician, I don’t have a magic wand. I’m just a hardworking guy who is asking you to be patient, as good things in football don’t happen overnight.
“I promise to take you to the third round of World Cup Qualifiers in the next 12 months. After that things need to speed up with investments, with foreign coaches coming in to take charge of Indian football academies.” (PTI)