Intercontinental Cup 2019 | We are keeping future of Indian football in mind, says Igor Stimac

The Indian team finished a decent third in the King’s Cup football tournament in Thailand last month. But, most importantly, the tournament saw as many as six Indians making their senior international debut under the guidance of new coach Igor Stimac. 

Now, one day before the start of the Intercontinental Cup, Stimac has stated that the management is keeping the future of Indian football in mind and don’t want to waste any time in marching ahead for the desired goal. The 25-man preliminary Indian team has been announced for the four-nation tournament and players like Narender Gehlot and Jobby Justin who impressed in the I-League have been named in the side which will be further trimmed down to 23 before the tournament.

“We are not wasting any time, not even a single second, in working towards our goals. With so many debuts in Thailand, it shows that we are keeping the future of Indian football in mind,” Stimac said during the pre-match press conference, tweeted Indian Football Team.

“Everyone worked very heard in Mumbai - we had 17 sessions in 10 days. I am very proud of the team, how they did and executed our working plan.”

Defending champions India would start their campaign against Tajikistan tomorrow before meeting North Korea and Syria in the next two games on 13 and 16 July respectively. Senior defender Sandesh Jhingan talked about the mood in the team ahead of the four-nation tournament during the press conference. 

“Everyone in the team is very motivated. We were all given certain plans and all the players we worked on them. It shows the hunger in the team,” Jhingan told reporters.

The TransStadia, Ahmedabad, is hosting an international football tournament for the first time. This is also the first tournament in the state of Gujarat and both Stimac and Jhingan also spoke about the support of the football fans of the country.

“I want to thank the fans for their warm welcome. We are always grateful for their support and want to reciprocate it on the pitch. Great days lie ahead for Indian football and we have to move together,” the defender explained.

“I would love to see many fans at the stadium. We have a new team and our focus is on progressing our game. We are here to win it but it is not the first priority,” the chief coach stated.