India has become very difficult team to beat, claims Igor Stimac
Indian national team head coach Igor Stimac has claimed that India has become a very difficult team to beat and stated India has improved from past performances. The Croatian also opened about his time in India so far, laid out his vision for the future, and discussed on different subjects.
It has been six months since Igor Stimac has taken over helms of Indian national team. The Croatian is transforming the Blue Tigers into a formidable side and they have some remarkable games under Stimac. Moreover, he is a regular to ISL games and keeps a close watch at the emerging players.
Igor Stimac revealed his interview experience with technical committee and shared his excitement in changing the course of Indian football. Moreover, he claimed that India has become a difficult side to beat and stated that India had a big improvement from the past.
“I was excited about such a massive job which was in front of me. I went for the challenge, did my best in the interview. The expectations were high. After the interview, I could feel that the technical committee was happy with what they heard. When it was announced that I was the chosen one, I knew I didn’t have much time to waste. I started preparing myself immediately to come to this beautiful country and change the course of Indian football. I already feel like at home.” Igor Stimac told in an ISL interview on its official Facebook page.
“We had a great few games. We had some very difficult games. I consider the games where we are dubbed favourites the most difficult. And you are still not ready to take that part and do it properly. But what I can say is India have become a very difficult team to beat, which was not happening before. We played five games and conceded only five goals – a big improvement from the last one where we conceded 18.”
Under Stimac India’s best game came against Asian Champions Qatar, where the Blue Tigers hold them in their own backyard. Stimac then pointed out which areas India has improved.
“When I compare the work we have done in the last six months to the work Mr Stephen Constantine had done during his tenure, there’s a massive difference and we have just started our work. There’s been an improvement in ball possession, number of passes, reducing long balls, passing accuracy, improving the tempo.
” Now India has seven players who can cover a distance of 12,000 meters, including sprints. There is much more effectiveness in our game. What we need to do is improve our maturity. We are making silly mistakes and unluckily we got punished for them every time. We have a lot to work on,” he added.
The Croatian coach then revealed his plans for the future for Indian football which includes a European tour with the national team.
“I dedicated myself a million per cent to this job. It’s not just about choosing 23 players, training them on the pitch and playing the match. So much work has gone on behind the scenes in the last six months – for the future calendars, meetings with the FSDL and Reliance, club owners. There are so many people involved in our football family and that’s the only way we can develop football in our country. With regards to games, we are quite sure we will have 10 friendly games until June. I have presented my calendar to the technical committee members.
“Once the Hero ISL is over, we will have a national team camp in March before the Qatar game and we will have another friendly match. After that, before the camp in June, we are taking the team to Europe for six to seven weeks, where we will play 10 games. The players will have more than 40 games this year. We are working hard on that.” Stimac said.
