Intercontinental Cup 2019 | Main problem in Asian football is lack of concentration, says Igor Stimac
India football coach Igor Stimac has stated that concentration lapses at the back has been a consistent element in Asian football after his side became a prime example of the same on Sunday. The coach also rued his team’s display after they were beaten essentially by an U-23 Tajikistan side.
After India kept up the intensity in the first fifteen minutes of the second half in their clash with Tajikistan yesterday, the players’ energy level dropped slowly and it took their opponents just 140 seconds to equalize with two goals.
All the four goals that the host conceded had individual errors written all over them and Stimac, having to an inexperienced backline, complained about the lack of concentration he has seen time and again in Asian football. He also pointed out the mistakes his players made in the second half that cost India the match.
"We had so many problems defensively - with Sandesh and Anas not ready yet, I did not want to push any of them because the Olympic Qualifiers are much more important for us and I tried to save them," said Stimac after the match, reported Goal.
"We could not find much concentration in the second half to keep going on in the same way and that was the biggest problem. The main problem in Asian football is a lack of concentration. Especially in the second half, the gaps between the lines became obvious and everybody lost his position too easily. You could see the game changed after individual mistakes - not after the team and collective mistakes," he further added.
However, Stimac has taken up a huge challenge with the young squad he has kept selecting and he has been of the knowledge that it would take time for his players to become a proper team that would make as lesser mistakes as possible.
"We have many young players who are here for the first time. We had many 18-20 year olds, but it's not an excuse - their (Tajikistan) average age today was 22 and a half. We need to be worried about that. This Tajikistan team has beaten us with their U-23 side and they beat us well.
“We must think now what we did wrong in the younger ages and what we must improve and how we teach the players how to grow up. We need to take the positives from the first half and analyse the mistakes we made. We need to become a competitive team that can play 95 minutes," he added.
Defending champions India would be up against DPR Korea on Saturday, July 13, before they face Syria on July 16 and Stimac has decided to improve the strength of their team ahead of that.
"We are becoming a good passing side that can attack and combine well. I told the players that football is like this, everything can change in three days. So we need to forget about this," he concluded.
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