“Friends, Indians, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Igor Stimac, not to praise him.”
A lot has been said about the ‘changes’ and team selections of the Indian men’s national football team after their 0-3 loss to Qatar at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
More speculation and criticism came the head coach’s way after his post-match comments became public.
The result did not matter, he said, adding that some of the questions he had, became clearer. Despite the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Joint Qualification clash being the last before the AFC Asian Cup.
“We did not get what we wanted. I was very clear, you give me time and I might provide results for you. Without the time, do not ask about the results or anything like that. Just forget it,” Stimac said after the match.
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What the Indian coach may be pointing out is the fact that he will get only a few days to train with his team ahead of the continental showpiece. He had been harping on the need for more time, of at least four weeks for a national camp. That will not be possible given the calendar, decided on by all stakeholders and that too long back.
“I will go there (Doha) with pride to represent India with my boys. We are going to do everything but there is no time for us to work, 12-13 days is nothing to prepare,” he clarified.
India will go up against Australia on January 13, with Uzbekistan (Jan 18) and Syria (Jan 23) being the other two teams in the group.
Three games.
What Stimac is rather choosing to focus on, is the prospect of adding five more top-level interactional games to India’s schedule, with a second-place finish in the World Cup qualifiers.
ALSO READ | ‘Lots of Positives’: Igor Stimac Thanks Indian Fans Showing Support During WC Qualifier Against Qatar
“For us the most important thing is the World Cup qualifier. Knowing that we are not going to get enough time for the Asian Cup, I don’t consider the Asian Cup as such an important tournament for us,” is the statement from Stimac, which caused an uproar on social media among fans.
“I need to make sure that we get enough points in our group in the World Cup qualifiers to make sure that we get five-six home games in the third round and that will be huge for Indian football for the future. So let us stop talking about the Asian Cup.”
But he did.
Talking about the players who are certain to go to Qatar. Stimac name-dropped the likes of Apuia, Suresh Singh, Mahesh Singh and Sahal Abdul Samad, who look set to be named for the AFC Asian Cup. Hence, he explained the experimentation with new players against Kuwait. Udanta Singh, for one, was singled out by the coach who may not be donning the Indian shirt soon.
So, arises the question. If World Cup qualifiers are important, why experiment and test out players”
He had, in fact, made it clear. “The result was not the priority.”
The Qatar game was the perfect opportunity to test out his players, with a positive result unlikely, Stimac opted for trial and error.
As things stand, India slipped down to third in their FIFA World Cup qualifiers, after Kuwait defeated Afghanistan 4-0 in the other match.
India will resume their qualifying campaign after the end of the AFC Asian Cup.