World Cup Qualifiers are the most important thing for all the participants here- Igor Stimac

The Blue Tigers' boss hinted at more debuts in the game against Thailand.

Despite the loss against Curacao, there were a lot of positives for coach Igor Stimac and the players. Having lost 3-1 in the opening fixture, the Blue Tigers will now face hosts, Thailand in the third-place playoff. The War Elephants lost 0-1 to Vietnam in the other game on Wednesday.

Stimac looked positive in the  post-match press conference after the first game and he continued that aura to the pre-match press conference before their clash against Thailand.

The tactician highlighted the importance of preparation between matches. He agreed that it was a tough game against Curacao, but pointed out that the setup is relatively new.

Stimac explained, "Our preparations were mostly trying to refresh our players after a very difficult game against Curacao. It was a tough game as you may know, most of their players are very experienced playing in the European class." However, we are only in the second week of together work and we know what is our priority."

"We played Thailand earlier, I was not the coach, but our players played them in the AFC Asian Cup group stages. Now, the teams are different, new coaches have arrived, we are trying to do a lot of things differently. So, I have told the players to do that work without taking any pressure from the results and we would like to keep away from injuries and continue development in the upcoming Intercontinental Cup in India," Stimac quipped.

"World Cup Qualifiers are the most important thing for all the participants here and the thoughts of other coaches are also similar. Everyone wants to win, but no-one wants to have headaches," the Croatian revealed to the press.

Watch Full pre-match conference here 

Sandesh Jhingan who was also accompanying Stimac to the press conference was asked about the experience of beating Thailand in the Asian Cup.

The Kerala Blasters defender stated, "It was a good result for us in the Asian Cup beating Thailand 4-1. But, in football, what's gone is gone. Its a new day tomorrow, things have changed a lot since then. But, we take confidence going into the game as we have achieved success against them last time."

"For us, its just play with the right character, passion and determination and we'll look to stick to our plans and let's see how it goes," he added.

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Speaking about the tactics in their previous game against Thailand in the AFC Asian Cup. (India won that game but the War Elephants had most of the possession and controlled the midfield). Stimac is looking to improve on those aspects, but he knows that it won't happen immediately.

He explained, "We are in a position to try and change the approach of play, the players are not used to playing that way. I am glad that despite the loss our fans in India were glad to see a team trying to play passes and dominating the midfield against a team like Curacao."

"My role as Indian head coach is to awaken the love for football in the country and that will only happen if we play positive football. We know at the start of the journey a lot of results will suffer, but the optimism in the camp helps us get going," he added.

"Young players are giving more optimism for the greater future of Indian football. We are going to groom them with the help of experienced players like, Sunil (Chhetri),  Sandesh (Jhingan) Pronay (Halder) and others, but our real strength should be our younger players," he asserted.

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The Croatian tactician also expressed his delight in the commitment shown by the youngsters. He seems to be positive about their role in the squad and hence he allowed six debutants to feature against Curacao in the first game and was impressed by most of them.

Stimac revealed what he told the players ahead of the game, " I told my players in the same way, considering that all of them were working very hard in the last 12 days. Everyone deserves their chance and I will give them the chance in this game and make my job even more difficult for future matches."