New Delhi, Oct 19: India winning the SAFF Championships for an eighth time is not a “special success” as the country is dominant in the South Asian region and the bigger aim is to do well in the 2023 Asian Cup qualification, national football team head coach Igor Stimac said on Wednesday.
India won the regional tournament after beating Nepal 3-0 in the final in Male on Saturday to hand Stimac his first trophy as in-charge of the team. “I don’t consider it (the SAFF title) as a special success because it is normal that India wins when it goes to SAFF but it demonstrates that we are very dominant in this competition and we can progress in our game a lot more,” Stimac said at a virtual interaction.
India beat Nepal 1-0 and hosts Maldives 3-1 in must-win matches before outplaying the Himalayan country 3-0 in the summit clash. Stimac was speaking from Bengaluru after his return from Maldives. He leavs for Dubai Tuesday with the U-23 national team, which he has taken charge of for the 2022 Asian U-23 Championships qualifiers in the UAE from October 25 to 31.
The Croatian gaffer said that the side’s aim is to make it to the 2023 Asian Cup for which the qualification third round is set to begin early February next year. That could be tricky as the Asian Cup qualification matches would be outside of FIFA window and the federation will need to convince the Indian Super League organisers and clubs to release players for national duty.
“We don’t know yet who we are going to play, we don’t know our group yet. But we need to prepare ourselves because we have been told our first game will be on February 1.
“If we are going to succeed in this qualifier which are games to play outside FIFA window, we need to sit down with other stakeholders in domestic competitions (read ISL), how much time the national team players will get for preparation.” (PTI)
