Stimac under pressure to deliver in SAFF Championships

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, October 2

Is Indian national head coach Igor Stimac under pressure? It appears so.

Stimac, who has picked a strong team for the SAFF Championships, has seen his team flatter to deceive during his time. India finished third in their group in the World Cup qualifiers, where they failed to beat a lower-ranked Afghanistan twice and Bangladesh once. In the last set of friendlies against Nepal, the team struggled to break down the hosts – they drew the first game 1-1 and won the next 2-1 in September.

As they look forward to playing Bangladesh on Monday, the Croatian complained a lot about how the circumstances in the last two years have hampered his coaching staff’s preparations.

“We couldn’t organise a preparation camp for obvious reasons. SAFF and AFC games are outside of the FIFA calendar. We spoke to the FSDL, ISL clubs, some of which are starting their pre-training. It is the busiest time in Indian football,” Stimac said during a virtual conference today. “Everyone (involved) had to give up on something. It is not easy and it is not enough but I am grateful,” he added.

AIFF officials, it is understood, are keeping a close watch on how the team performs. Failure to enter the final — India are favourites to win the title by virtue of their high ranking — may mean a fresh debate on Stimac’s continuation as coach.

The Croat further said he was mindful of the fact that apart from ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC players, most of his players have not had a good pre-season training. Both these clubs took part in the AFC Cup. “We have to be careful about how much time is given to few players as only ATK and Bengaluru players had some sort of preseason,” he said.

The coach also highlighted the absence of Sandesh Jhingan, Rowllin Borges and Ashique Kuruniyan as another impediment.

‘Lots to improve’

Indian captain Sunil Chhetri was more forthcoming when he was quizzed about the lack of results on.

“If we are talking only about two games against Nepal, we have to improve in a lot of areas. This has been talked and conveyed by the coach and his staff,” the 37-year-old talisman said.

“We know we could have done better in Nepal. Whatever things we had to work on were conveyed to us right after the game. With every passing day, we realised that every other team who probably are in the same region are also improving — which means that if we play against them, we cannot afford to be 90 per cent. Not just against Nepal, but in a game against any one of them,” he added.