SAFF Cup 2018 | Didn’t disappoint anyone but ourselves, says Stephen Constantine

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

14
no photo

Indian coach Stephen Constantine has revealed that the team’s 2-1 loss to the Maldives in the final of the SAFF Cup did not disappoint anyone but the team. India had recorded wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Maldives in the build-up to the final but suffered a surprising loss in the final.

India were certainly the favorites ahead of the final encounter against the Maldives in Bangladesh. But the defending champions suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the minnows as they were beaten by a scoreline of 2-1. Goals from Ibrahim Mahudhee (19) and Ali Fasir (66) put the underdogs ahead before Sumeet Passi (90+2) scored a consolation goal in stoppage time. However, chief coach, Stephen Constantine, reckoned that the Indian team did not play to their full potential and were second best on the night.

"We didn't play the game according to our potential and that's where the lack of experience matters. We weren't able to replicate our performance from the semifinal (against Pakistan) and that's what seems to happen when you play with younger boys.

"They don't have the consistency and the experience to play at the same level every game but they'll learn from this. I think we didn't disappoint anyone else but ourselves. We didn't do enough to win the game but we move on from here," Constantine said at the post-match press conference in Dhaka on Saturday.

But Constantine added that he was proud of his U-23 team’s performance in the last two weeks.

"The way they performed and delivered in the last 10-12 days, I'm extremely proud of them. They are the future of India football for the next six-eight years. I'm extremely proud of the boys and it's going to be a good learning experience for them."

The English coach congratulated the Maldives for their impressive display but disregarded comments over his team playing some complacent football.

"I don't think there was a question of underestimating Maldives at any point of time. Maldives had our full respect but we couldn't do what we were capable of doing. Maldives deserve the credit for sitting back and keeping on frustrating us in the way we play."

"We were impatient a few times and lost the balls quite a few times to lose the control of the game. Moreover, two silly mistakes cost us heavily as they fired two decisive goals. That's football and we learn from this", he added further.

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments