Some players need to speed up their game, admits Igor Stimac

India qualified for the Hero Intercontinental Cup 2023 final with a late win over Vanuatu.

India maintained their winning run in the Hero Intercontinental Cup with a gritty 1-0 win over Vanuatu at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Monday, June 12.

It wasn’t a stroll in the park at all, as the stubborn visitors frustrated the Blue Tigers with their deep-defending – while India also wasted some chances of their own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62osw0eQx7o

Igor Stimac’s reaction to the result

Just as it looked like Igor Stimac’s side were staring at the jaws of a draw, Sunil Chhetri scored an emphatic winner from close range to help his side jump up to the top of the table. Coach Stimac was relatively pleased with the ultimate result, as he said after the game, “We got another clean sheet and another win. But many things were not as I wanted them to do and I will work on that. But many things were also beautiful, so we must enjoy that. What I’m happy about is that consistency is trying and not losing faith.

“Because when you can’t open the score in games like this, you can see Lebanon today (goalless draw against Mongolia) it becomes more and more difficult as minutes pass by to score. We kept our faith, we kept our clarity in what we needed to do and the goal game. The team has shown good character today,” he added.

The Croatian coach did admit the issues he noticed that didn’t please him, stating, “I was not happy with parts of the game. We were sloppy and slow, especially with switching sides. That’s why I went angry at the players. Some players need to speed up their game. We need to be tight on the players and they need to move the ball quicker to open the gaps and find areas where we could hurt the opponent.”

The performance and tactics around front-three

When asked about his decision to interchange the positions of Naorem Mahesh Singh and debutant Nandhakumar Sekar, as well as Sunil Chhetri’s missed chances before his goal, he explained:

“Both Naorem and Nandha had good games, and I wanted to see them how they operate on both wings. We were doing drills for both flanks and I want all players to understand how they need to move on each flank.

“Most of the game of Chhetri is that you don’t see him firing, but then he pops up to score and win you the game. So why question him?” he also stated.

Reason behind rotating the team

When certain scrutinity was levied on him strongly rotating key players like Anirudh Thapa who helped in emphatically defeating Mongolia, Stimac delivered a passionate rant and explained: “If he was there from the beginning, we might’ve conceded goals. So you can’t know that. I won’t go back to a case of ‘what if?’. All the players need to be there when they’re chosen. What I need to understand is that I can’t look this one game, I watch the wider picture. We have 9 games in 35 days. Imagine if I started the first two games with the same XI players, then in the third game we’re gone. Those XI who didn’t play who didn’t play lose concentration and interest to compete and the ones that played both games are tired and can’t do anything after a point in time.

“You have to look at the wider picture and understand the decisions that the coaches are making. You see the Mongolia head coach today, he started 10 players that were benched the last time and he got a point! That’s because as the game was passing by, Lebanon didn’t score and it became more and more difficult for them because they had players who also played the first game and they didn’t make many changes. You need to look beyond one game, and further on what is coming on.

''We now have two games against Lebanon. We are much fresher than them now. We need to be more careful because three of their foreign-based players are now joining and they’ll be a totally different team. That is why I’m making these changes, to rest our best players, give them more time to recover and help them be at their fittest against better sides,” he also quipped.

Stimac backs India to get better after Vanuatu win

Stimac also believes that India’s performances will get better after this game and claimed: “We’ve barely started. I told you that we might suffer in the first two games. After the second game, we should be progressing and rising up in terms of the quality of the games and everything about us. That is how we’re programming for the next 45-50 days when we’re together to play nine games.

"We don’t have seven or eight key players here who are probables for our strongest starting XI. So it’s not ideal preparation or the ideal picture we’re getting from here. Soon Brandon, Chinglensana, Akash, Ashique, Bheke and Ishan will be back – they’re out for minor injuries. So you need to choose and pick from whatever you have available.”

Stimac sends challenge to Indian football organizers

When asked about his side’s struggles in front of goal in the game, Stimac refused to take responsibility and gave a challenge to the organizers of Indian football, saying: “They were not doing well in the final third. They were great until they got to the box. But in the box, the finishing is missing. I can’t help them there. I can’t help Indian football here. I can help them get to the front of the box, but there it’s the players who need to do it. It’s as simple as that.

“Even Pep Guardiola says when asked about his team not scoring many in a few games, even he said that ‘I can help my team get to the final third, but there they need to do it by themselves’. So when you come in front of the goal in good positions, as we did five times in the first 20 minutes today, but then you miss such big chances in open positions – no help from me there. The coaches in the clubs, the ISL and I-League officials move foreigners out of the leagues and allow the Indian players to practice and play as centre-forwards to score more goals,” he added.

Are friendly games at home advantageous for India?

Finally, when asked if he feels that playng these friendly games are an advantage for India and how he sees the upcoming game against Lebanon going as, Stimac explained: “Why do you think all coaches love to play friendlies at home? It’s to get certain advantages and protection from referees. Why do you think we didn’t like playing all our friendly games away and the fans weren’t happy with the team? Because when you go away, their turf is an artificial turf with different grass – which can be an advantage for the home team. Now we’re enjoying the advantages, for which I’m so happy.”

“We are playing at home and we try to win every game here. We won’t look at what Lebanon has done in the last game. It’ll be difficult because they have some players with enormous quality, but they have difficulties as well playing in this humidity and the heat. It will be an interesting game, maybe not beautiful, but interesting,” he finished off with.