No plan to appoint new head coach before April-May, reveals AIFF secretary Kushal Das

No plan to appoint new head coach before April-May, reveals AIFF secretary Kushal Das

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das has revealed that there are no plans to appoint a new head coach for the Indian team before April or May and they are yet to seek applications for the same. Stephen Constantine stepped down as coach after India fell to a last-gasp loss to Bahrain in the Asian Cup.

The Indian football team were left heartbroken as they failed to make the knockout stage of this year’s Asian Cup competition after suffering a stoppage-time loss to Bahrain in their final group stage encounter. One of the immediate consequences of the loss was the news of the resignation of long-serving head coach - Stephen Constantine.

Now, The All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced that the head coach for the Indian national football team will be appointed only after the month of April and May. This means that Sunil Chhetri and Co. will continue to remain without a head coach, at least for the next couple of months.

“We will advertise for that position shortly, but we have no plans to appoint anyone before April-May.

“There is no doubt that Indian football has made some substantial progress in the last 4-5 years. We comprehensively beat Thailand in the opening game but missed out on close chances to the UAE and Bahrain. I can say that’s a far superior performance for the side,” AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das was quoted as saying by IANS on Wednesday.

India started off their AFC Asian Cup campaign with a brilliant 4-1 win against Thailand but lost their second group game to UAE by a margin of 2-0. India needed a draw in the final group stage match against Bahrain but conceded a stoppage time penalty which knocked them out of the tournament.

Defender Subhasish Bose, who was a part of the Asian Cup squad, expressed his opinion on the prospect of new coach whom he believes needs to build on the work of Constantine in the coming years.

“Constantine was a good coach and whatever he did for our country, taking us up the rankings, he did a good job. But whoever comes now should get newer things and make us better,” Bose was quoted as saying by India Today.

“He should be able to guide us better and take the national team to a newer level, that is what we want and expect. We will also give our best to get better,” he added.

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