We were very confident with the ball today, asserts Igor Stimac

The head coach showered high praise on goalscorer Lallianzuala Chhangte for his dedication.

Indian National Football Team bagged victory their Hero Intercontinental Cup opener, courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 win against Mongolia. The Blue Tigers were on the front foot from the very start, as they took the lead inside the opening two minutes. Just a few minutes later, Igor Stimac’s men doubled their lead as Chhangte added his name to the scoresheet. 

Thereafter, the match was completely dominated by India, both in terms of possession, as well as creating attacking chances. After such a convincing victory near the home crowd, a delighted Igor Stimac addressed the media. He was joined by the Man of the match Lallianzuala Chhangte. Here are the excerpts from the conversation.

Thoughts on the Game

Igor Stimac expressed his delight over India’s satisfactory victory, and claimed that the game was a positive step for India in the right direction. He said, “Overall, I'm very happy with everything. What we have seen today. I put two aims to our players, One is clean sheet, the second one was to win the game with enjoying the game, you know? And that's everything what they did today. It was obvious that they are enjoying being on the pitch passing the ball, creating chances, and scoring goals. I feel a little bit sorry, there were no more goals because there were enough chances to score more goals.” Stimac asserted.

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“You know, this is our sixth win consecutive win at home. With the goal difference, I mean six games we conceded one goal and scored, think 13 or 14. That's a good base to build upon. We have more games this month, I hope that all the hard work, the boys are putting on the pitch will pay back to them because they deserve it.

"It's not easy with such humidity such heat, to be here, three and a half weeks pair and two training sessions every day. Without any complaint without anything whatsoever. I'm so proud of them and just hope that everybody will stay off injuries and get enough time on the pitch to enjoy the football.” he added speaking about his team’s recent performances.

“We were very confident with the ball today, keeping good distances between the players, passing well, with, with quick passing, and we had two magnificent players in the middle today as central Midfield players Apuia and Thapa, who are so confident on the go. So it was very difficult to make successful high press on us today. But Mongolia is what I've seen, you know, very very good at the middle press. You know, this is what they do really well and we had certain problems on these rebounds coming from Jhingan when he wins the headers and then Mongolia is good there at the middle place,” Stimac concluded.

Preparations ahead of game against Vanuatu

With India facing Vanuatu up next in three days' time, the coach shed light on his teams preparations ahead of the fixture.

“Tonight, we are going to prepare everything for our players in regards to the filtered analysis information. The boys who played today will have a rest day tomorrow. The rest of them who played less or didn't play They will have high intensity training session so it's a busy day tomorrow for us with analysis, preparation for the three days from now.

We need to win the second game. Also, everybody who didn't play this first game will get his minutes. I can tell you already now, so those who like to complain about changing teams and changing players, that's how I appreciate my players and their attitude, and their commitment, because we are 26, and we are like one here. So never mind who is on the pitch,” Igor Stimac asserted.

Appreciation on Mongolia’s performance

Despite going two goals down early on into the game, the Blue Wolves did incredibly well to keep India from scoring for the rest of the game. Igor Stimac appreciated his opponent’s efforts, and rendered them as a tough opponent to face.

“I think that Mongolia was quite compact open today because we watch carefully their games against Georgia and Yemen. You know, this team is not easy to beat, not easy at all. It might look to you today because we had good moments, we had good progressive passes.

We were making runs in behind the Defenders on the flanks. But I'm telling you, let's not underestimate, you know, we didn't let them come out at us today. You know, we were very compact, very solid, very disciplined, and focused at the back, because priority was to keep clean sheet. We knew we going to break through and score goals.” the coach said.

On Chhangte’s and Sahal’s performances

Chhangte and Sahal were the two best performers for India tonight. Both the players got themselves on the scoresheet, and were very crisp with their passing as well as attacking play. 

“Sahal was the choice today to start the game. It's because that's how we have seen the opponent Mongolia. We wanted player like Sahal, who is capable of finding the area in the gaps turning and creating chances and also scoring goals. And it was right and I'm so happy for it.” Igor exclaimed in appreciation of Sahal.

“So happy also for Lallanzuala who is working so hard on a daily basis. You know, you should, you should make a movie about this boy here, to Future generations, to everyone who is coming up and knocking on the door of senior teams, to learn what it means to be professional, how much work you need to put in. people see him on the Sundays, you know, scoring goals for Mumbai. But they don't see six and a half days working for that Sunday, which is there to come, you know, so we need to appreciate it but I'm so happy for him.” asserted Stimac.

Chhangte’s thoughts on the game

Man of the match Chhangte also shared his thoughts on the game, and was delighted with how the team took on Mongolia tonight.

“Well, yeah, it's not easy. It's very humid and hot but we were preparing very, very well. We had a games early and with the help of the coach and Professor, we end with all the teams from the staff, they were helping us, you know, To play under these circumstances. I think we were well prepared to play in this humidity. So yeah, we could have done better but I think we did very very well.” stated Chhangte

“Today I think we were showing what we were capable of doing, and most important thing is that we were doing what we did in the training pitch, what coach asks us to do. And that is very, very important, the game, you know, you can learn many things in the training pitch, but if you can't do it in the match, it's nonsense. So, I think we were doing what we learned from the training pitch. We were doing what the coach asked us to do today. And that, that will be, you know, very very important again in the next match as well.” he added.