Will take time to adapt Igor Stimac’s philosophies, asserts Sunil Chhetri

Croatian Igor Stimac was appointed as the head coach of the Indian national football team in 2019 following Stephen Constantine’s resignation from the post. Sunil Chhetri and Co. have had a mixed outing with the gaffer, having failed to win a single match in 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The veteran feels that the style of football injected by Stimac is very new and the players will take time to emulate that.

"The way we play is different. Both coaches have their way of playing. Both want to win, of course. That is common. But with Stimac, we get a new way of playing. He wants to keep the ball, play from behind. And we’re trying our best, but it takes time. A few injuries to important players like Sandesh does not help, but I think, soon we’ll understand what the coach wants as much as possible and be a better team,” Sunil Chhetri told Sportscafe during an event organised by Kingfisher in Bangalore.

India is placed at the fourth position in Group E of the Qualifiers with three points from 5 matches. Having lost two out of two against Oman, the Indians pulled off a historic draw away to Qatar, while they have also split points with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Even though their chances of qualifying for the next round are good as over, the Indians can still make it to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, which according to Chhetri is the immediate goal of the team.

“To qualify for the AFC Asian Cup is the prime goal. Also, we want to do well in every game. That’s very important for us. It’s important that a team like us, who has a new coach and a lot of youngsters coming through, to get as many points as possible in every game and give a good account of ourselves and to improve. If we want to qualify for AFC and if we want to do well there, we really have to make a good team now. I just hope that we can do that,” added the forward.

India is scheduled to host Qatar on March 26, following an away tie to Bangladesh on June 4. Stimac’s boys will end their qualifying campaign with a home match against Afghanistan on June 9.