We need to create a family spirit in Indian team, says Isac Doru

Although the senior Indian football team lost to Curacao 1-3 in the first game of the ongoing King’s Cup in Buriram, Thailand, the newly-appointed coach Igor Stimac handed over international debut to as many as six players - Sahal Abdul Samad, Rahul Bheke, Brandon Fernandes, Amarjit Singh, Raynier Fernandes and Michael Soosairaj. The technical director of the All India Football Federation has termed this as a major development for the game in India.

With the appointment of the new coach and a new technical director at the helm, the federation is looking forward to bring in some good changes and holistic development of the game in the country. Doru also stressed on the importance of discovering talented players at a younger age.

Speaking about India’s loss in the first game of the King’s Cup, he said, “The first half left a lot to be desired. But in the second 45 minutes, the coach changed a few things and we started controlling the game, and had a lot of chances to score. We saw two different performances in the two halves -- as if we played with two different teams. In the second half, we had control and played attacking,  which is very important."

India will now take on continental rivals Thailand in the next game to ensure they finish third in the tournament. The last meeting between these two teams was India’s first game of the AFC Asian Cup in the UAE which the Blue Tigers won by a huge margin of 4-1 goals. Doru asserted that the hosts have a strong side and are technically sound.