Bibiano Fernandes ecstatic with SAFF success, Sunil Shreshta unhappy with players
(Courtesy : AIFF Media)
The hosts scored a whopping 28 goals in the course of the tournament without letting in a single one at the back.
India piled up seven goals against the Nepali team in the final of the U-15 SAFF Championship. A hat-trick from striker Sridarth, along with goals from Taison, Maheson and Himanshu sealed the deal for the Blue Colts.
Both the head coaches met the media after game. India's Bibiano Fernandes gave his thoughts about the tournament by saying, ”I thank God for the win and I’ll also thank AIFF for their continuous support.”
Watch: SAFF U-15 Championships final post match press conference
He added, “The Thailand tour helped us a lot and I’m happy that we are champions. We had set a target to win this championship and we’ve achieved that. We took this tournament as the preparation for the AFC (U-16) Championships (Qualifiers) and we’ll approach the tournament with the same confidence.
I’m happy with the boys because it’s not that easy to play matches every alternate day and still keep up the intensity.”
When asked about the goalscoring form of the team he answered, ”Yes, our goalscorers are really good. We have players like Sridharth, Himanshu doing well for the team and if they don’t have a good match, the other players step up. So, these players lower the pressure on me.”
He was then questioned about the positives from the tournament and replied, “Our attack is playing really well and also our defence. But, before the AFC Championship we’ll work hard and try to accomplish the goal.”
Sunil Shreshta the Nepali coach spoke about the game by saying, “After the first goal our gameplay changed and I don’t want to say anything about it. We let the goals go easily and I feel goalkeeper should’ve saved it.”
When asked about the strategy during the game he said, “Our strategy was to be defensive in the first half, but the opposition team was way stronger than us and we failed to prevent them from scoring goals”
[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]When quizzed about the positives from the tournament the Nepal tactician opined, ”The tournament was for the preparation of upcoming AFC Qualifiers and this tournament was nice exposure for the Nepal team.”
He further quipped, “Our group in AFC Qualifiers is tough, with teams like Jordan, Kuwait, Tajikistan and Sri Lanka, but we need to make our mark in the group.”
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