India begin their Asian Cup campaign against Australia, one of the pre-tournament favourites, on January 13. The team, coached by Igor Stimac, were the first to reach Doha. In this special episode of Backstage with Boria, Stimac talks of the preparations, the absence of key personnel and how this tournament will also act as a learning for the key World Cup qualifiers later this year.
Excerpts:
Boria: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Coach! How are you looking at things? The team is in Doha, so how can you explain this at the start of 2024?
Stimac: We do not have time to complain about nothing. We got what we got. We are here and getting prepared in the best possible way to represent the country. So, that is all we are focused at this moment.
Boria: Huge year for Indian Football. Asian Cup, World Cup Qualifiers. How are you looking at 2024?
Stimac: When I look back to when we started four-and-a-half years ago, and everything that has happened in the meantime, I am amazed how much we have done. Reconstruction of the team, two years of pandemic, not being able to organise our travel properly – we survived everything. Now, we need to do the best of our abilities. The sad thing is obviously that we are going to miss very important players in our team in this Asian Cup. It will lower our strength, but whoever the players are there in place of those players needs to do the job for us.
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🚨EXCLUSIVE
“It is obvious on the pitch, the different mentality and fearless football of our players.” Igor Stimac sheds light on his boys’ transformed mentality.
He wants the boys to go out there and represent our country in the best possible way in the upcoming… pic.twitter.com/CUzscIgVSR
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) January 6, 2024
Boria: What do you tell them? If they do well in the Asian Cup or World Cup Qualifiers, automatically they will become heroes!
Stimac: We need to get organised better. Everyone in the football house should prioritise the national team and then, we can expect a better result. Until then, we need to focus on realistic goals. Otherwise, we are going to suffer a lot. Realistically, we can hold on to something in the Asian Cup. But to expect enormous achievement is not reality. We need to use these games to gain experience, to do the best we can.
After that, we will hope the players make a comeback and be ready for the World Cup Qualifiers against Afghanistan, home and away. These two games might be crucial for our World Cup qualification, to finish in the second spot.
Boria: While having a chat with Sunil [Chhetri] and some of the other boys, they were saying that when facing top-ranked teams, we might lose but there will be a fight. Is that the change in the mentality that you think you have been able to bring within the dressing room?
Stimac: It is obvious on the pitch, the different mentality and fearless football of our players. They are looking for the balls, asking for the balls, trying to create things for the nation. So, we have been good but this tournament is different. In eight or nine days, you have three difficult opponents. You do not have enough time to recover well. We still do not have the same level that is needed at the highest level against top-quality sides constantly. But we are going to reach there, bit by bit.
Boria: Can you elaborate on the mentality, that national team pride? You must play well for a consistent period of time to be able to get there?
Stimac: Maybe five years ago, when I started my job here, there was a possibility of some players with one or two good performances to attract my eyes and get the call for the national team. But now, when we have created a wider pool of players who have spent a certain time together and went through the process, they understand the drills, and working schedule.
For an example, you have the greatest football teams in the world. When they sign 5-6 players for 100 million, world-class players, they will not produce the results immediately. It takes four to six months for them to be together and start playing as a team. This is very similar to the national team. Once you started a process with a certain group of players, they start to understand the process and produce results. You cannot expect new boys to come in the group and produce results immediately.
Boria: Can you elaborate, can you take me backstage? Mental conditioning, physical fitness, diets, sports science, as theses things are in our control.
Stimac: You are aware of how we have managed to make our players understand the importance of rest, nutrition, meditation, and focus in football. If you do not eat, breathe, or sleep football, nothing good will happen. It is absolutely 24×7, you are living it. Now, we can proudly say that we have players who are fully committed and understand what is needed. That is why we are getting the results.
One thing that we have told to our players is that there are many better teams out there than us. But, if we can fight more than them, can run more than them, can prepare ourselves more than them, then we will make it very difficult for them. In the recent past, we have managed to bring our team to a certain fitness level to play a high-pressing game and that helped us in achieving the results.
Boria: There will be significant Indian support in Doha. How much do the fans matter to you?
Stimac: It is the best thing that can happen to one coach or one football team! These fans are the best reward that we have achieved for our results in the recent past. I appreciate them so much and know that there will be thousands of Indian supporters behind the team in the Asian Cup. It will be helpful. With their help, we can give 120 per cent.
Boria: So, when fans cheer, it really matters to you, right?
Stimac: There is nothing bigger when you get chants as an individual or collectively as a team! To make so many people happy and proud with a performance of 90 mins. When you get so much backing, you will be better than you are. I would say that Croatia would not have done such great things without the support we had all over the world. Wherever we went, we had more supporters than the opponent team. We are responsible to those people!
Boria: Coach, can you tell everyone that we might lose in the Asian Cup, but in terms of showing fight, India will be proud of its football team?
Stimac: I never mention the results to my players. Just go out there, represent your country in the best possible way and leave everything on that pitch. That is the only way we need to take these things going forward for Indian football. We do not have much time, but we’re going to do it with pride. This time, with the great support of AIFF, they are allowing us to bring additional staff like Trevor Sinclair in such a short time.
Boria: Trevor Sinclair will be a great addition to your coaching staff!
Stimac: We played together for a couple of years at West Ham. He was a right winger and there are certain things that he can teach these players, especially wingers and full-backs – how to provide crosses, and position themselves while defending.
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