Asian Cup 2024: Indian coach Igor Stimac makes statement of intent ahead of tournament in early January

Indian Football is set for a huge test early in 2024. Igor Stimac and Sunil Chettri will head to Qatar to take part in the 2024 Asian Cup tournament. It is a huge test for the Indian football team which is trying to make its presence on the global stage. 

India’s best finish in the Asian Cup was in 1964 when they finished second in the group of the four-nation tournament. Israel ended the tournament as the Champions with India failing to qualify for the tournament regularly. 

Igor Stimac will hope the Indian team achieves great heights and makes the nation proud. This is just the fifth time India will play in Asia’s most prestigious football tournament. As the team gets ready to depart the Croatian coach has made some huge remarks to the media.

Igor Stimac sounds out a warning to Team India – 

Asian Cup 2023 is set to commence on the 12^th of January with Qatar hosting the event Indian Football team is in Group B along with Powerhouses Australia, Uzbekistan, and Syria.

Sunil Chettri and his side begin their tournament on the 13^th with a game against Australia. This will be followed by the game against Uzbekistan on the 18^th of January. Syria will be the final opponent for India with the game set to take place on the 23^rd.

Ahead of the tournament Indian coach Igor Stimac said to the media “All the boys in the probable list are similar in their football qualities. What we are looking for in the final list of 26 are experience and physical strength, and the final line will be drawn by the strength of their character”

The Croatian also demanded the Indian players to show character ahead of the tournament. “This is very important for us as a team, because no matter the talent, if there is no character nothing can be achieved”. The final list of players is set to be known before the end of the week.

While addressing the media, Igor Stimac stressed on the finer aspects of the game India needs to work on. “It’s also very important to work on the man marking inside the box because I wasn’t happy with that part of the game. We started leaking some unnecessary goals inside the box because marking wasn’t properly done”

Finally speaking about the other teams in the group, Stimac said “All three teams are technically good, physically strong, with great speed. So we aren’t going to have much difference in the three games. The main focus for us will be to check the fitness level of our players at present and see how much we can develop in the next two weeks”