India Win SAFF Championship But Coach Igor Stimac Is Not Too Excited For The Win!

Football: India Win SAFF Championship But Coach Igor Stimac Is Not Too Excited For The Win!

The Indian football team has beaten Nepal in the finals of the SAFF Championship to lift the SAFF Cup for the eighth time. Men In Blue completely outplayed Nepal in the finals as they beat the opponent by 3-0. The team has gifted India’s new head coach Igor Stimac his first trophy as in charge of the team but the coach Stimac is not too excited. Let’s find out why.

Stimac On Wednesday said in a virtual interaction with the media that winning the SAFF championship is good but he doesn’t consider India winning the title for the eighth time a special success. The team is already dominant in the South Asia region. Igor Stimac added he and the team are looking to do well in the Asian Cup qualifiers which will happen in 2023. 

Though Stimac said that this win demonstrates India as strong and dominant in this tournament. He added that they can add more value to the team and progress a lot more. Though the journey of India in this tournament was not easy at all. In the league stage, India got tough competition from Bangladesh. The scores were 1-1 after a full time between the two. The same thing happened against Sri Lanka. India failed to the goal against them and the score was 0-0 at the end of four quarters. 

Head Coach Igor admitted that the league stages were tough and brought a lot of pressure on the boys. They were thinking if they would make it into the finals or not. After the first two matches, the results had put India in danger of going out of the reckoning for the final.

After two tough games, India made a strong comeback. They beat Nepal in the next game by 1-0. Then outplayed the hosting nation Maldives by 3-1. With these wins, India managed to Make It into the finals where they clashed with Nepal. Men In Blue then completely outplayed the Himalayan country by 3-0 to add the 8th SAFF title in the bag. 

Here you can see the tweet,

Didn't start like we should have, but ended exactly how we wanted to. Proud of this bunch and the way we got things on track.
I enjoyed watching that, Sahal.👌
Suresh, of all the things you copy from me, this is up there. Make it a habit.🙂 #SAFFChampionship2021 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Z67Kca5qBh

— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) October 17, 2021

Indian skipper Sunil Chetri again played a huge role as he led the team from the front. As an individual Chetri is not on the sixth spot in the World for hitting most goals for the county. He is three goals behind legendary Pele who is on the 5th spot. As usual Christiano Ronaldo is topping the list. 

The coach Stimac before leaving for Dubai mentioned the game plan of the team during the tournament. He said that the pressure was on the boys not because they didn’t play well but due to the scorecard in the first two matches. In the next games, they didn’t change the approach as it was always playing well and giving 100%. The team had enough shots, scoring chances, movement, and energy by players.

Stimac added that Yes! They faced pressure but what most mattered is that the team ended up winning the cup. Stimac was interacting from Bangalore as the team has returned from the Maldives. Igor is leaving for Dubai Tuesday night with the U-23 national team, which he has taken charge of for the 2022 Asian U-23 Championships qualifiers in the UAE from October 25 to 31.

The third round of the Asian cup qualifiers is set to begin in February next year. The team and the coach are aiming to make it to the Cup this time. Well, it is a confusing situation as the Asian Cup qualification matches will stay outside of the FIFA window. The Football Federation of India needs to convince different franchises of the Indian Super League to release their players as they have to do national duty. Before the third round, the players need preparation time for the qualifiers.