Igor Stimac is confident India can qualify for third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers – Firstpost
Asked if he would resign, Igor Stimac said he was there to “accomplish a mission” and pledged to stay in charge until the next round.
Indian football team manager Igor Stimac said they can still qualify for the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, presenting a confident and strong front despite an embarrassing defeat against the Lower-ranked Afghanistan in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Ranked 158th in the world, Afghanistan came from behind to beat 117th-ranked India 2-1 as the hosts suffered a shock defeat despite talisman Sunil Chhetri’s 94th international goal in his 150th match.
“Of course I think we can qualify (for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers) and I told you before, we are going to be a different team after a long camp.
“You can see that half of our players are not able to bring that intensity and I can’t change that in five days, I’m sorry,” Stimac said after the match.
“I repeat myself over and over again. I hope you remember that all these players were the same in June-July and that Afghanistan is not a different team from the Kuwait and Lebanon teams that we beat and dominated.
The Croatian apologized for the defeat following a poor performance. Asked if he would resign, he said he was there to “fulfill a mission” and pledged to stay in charge until June.
Stimac, who was appointed manager in 2019, received a contract extension last year which keeps him in the role until June 2026.
He said this was the same Indian team which was winning consistently last year. “The difference is only in the intensity,” he said.
He added that if he had had more time to prepare, the results would have been different. Stimac disagreed with the suggestion that his team was tactically outplayed by Afghanistan, but said India should not have conceded the penalty through a stupid mistake.
He claimed that the Afghan attack was one-dimensional, playing a long ball into the penalty area and that the Indian defense was “ineffective in controlling this predictable approach”.
“We did a lot of things right today, but what was really bad was that after being in control for most of the match, there were a few points in the match when we gave up something. thing. As a team, we are frozen for 5-6 minutes, which is inexplicable.
“It’s not just about trying to get to the third round, it’s also about what we’re going to do there, when we get there. We have to do well in June, otherwise we will stay where we have been for the last eight years, qualifying against Myanmar and Guam.
