19.4 C
New York
Monday, October 7, 2024
HomeSportsFootballIndia football coach sticks by his ‘heroes’ despite China drubbing

India football coach sticks by his ‘heroes’ despite China drubbing

Date:

Related stories

Manchester City, Arsenal knocked out of Champions League

In a thrilling night of Champions League football, Real...

Sunny Singh Gill becomes first British Indian referee in Premier League

SUNNY SINGH GILL was standing at the proverbial career...

Indian football coach: ‘Our goal is football World Cup qualifiers’

INDIA are entering the upcoming Asian Cup as “rank...

Rooney needs time to get over Birmingham City ‘setback’

Wayne Rooney said it would “take some time to...

British Asian man alleges racial bias by Liverpool FC

A British Asian man has taken legal action against...

INDIA head coach Igor Stimac said his second-string men’s team “ran out of gas” in the second half against China but hailed the players as “heroes” despite a 5-1 drubbing in their Asian Games opener on Tuesday (19).

With most local clubs refusing to release key players, citing domestic and Asian competitions, India fielded an unfamiliar line-up under captain Sunil Chhetri after arriving in China late on Monday (18).

After a fairly even first half at the Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium they wilted in difficult conditions in the second period and conceded four goals.

Stimac said India would have given China a “huge problem” if they had fielded their best team.

“Still, these players are heroes to me,” he added. “We came here last night at two minutes past midnight after travelling 35 hours to get here.”

- Advertisement -

With the match poised at 1-1 in the first half, India were unable to maintain the pace of the game, with Abdul Rabeeh, Bryce Miranda and Sumit Rathi suffering cramp.

“It was obvious that in the second half we ran out of gas, which I didn’t expect to be (any) better,” Stimac said.

“It would be a very different game with the first choice players which I had on my list, but you all know how difficult is to get players for such a competition which is out of the FIFA window.”

India will need vastly improved performance in their next two group games against Bangladesh and Myanmar if they are to advance.

The top two teams from each grop, along with four of the six best-placed third-place teams, will qualify for the round of 16.

“We are going to compete with our chins up,” Stimac said. “I’ve got a few players who proved to me that they deserve to be in the team, which is by far the best thing we can get.”

(Reuters)

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once

Latest stories