Stephen Constantine, the coach of the Indian national team, was at the receiving end of a cannonade of questions, suggestions and opinions after the Blue Tigwers' zestless draw against Nepal in the Deccan city of Pune, on Monday. However, it was the British-Cypriot's answer to a question on the South Asian Football Federation's (SAFF) Championship that raised a few eyebrows.
"For us, the SAFF Cup is not as important as it used to be," calibrated the coach, during the autopsy of the draw at Balewadi, when quizzed on the tournament that would be held in Kerala, in December.
Asked, if he'd been looking forward to the draw for the competition, which is to be held on 17 September, 2015, the coach flatly replied, "No."
Questioned, in this case, as to how he would plan on attacking the SAFF tournament, the coach revealed he wanted to play an age-group team in the competition. "If it was my choice, I would put U-19 team for SAFF. We want to develop our young national team teams. We went to two finals from the competition in the last week. The U19 team had 9 players under-17. Four of them played very well. Both games we lost on penalties. The players would have developed themselves and for sure they’d have learnt. They’ll be better by the U23 stage," he commented.
Constantine suggested that the impending Indian Super League (ISL), which begins on October 3 and concludes on December 20th, 2015, would mean that he cannot select players would reach the semis of the competition for the SAFF Championship.
"Problem with SAFF is its timing. I had asked for it to be made in June, after the Guam game. We had the boys together. December 20th is the final of the ISL. So I won’t be able to choose from the four teams that make the semi-finals of the competition. I have to decide when I can start the camp. SAFF starts on December 23rd and for me, it defies logic."
Why isn't anyone alarmed with that? So ISL is clearly hindering the National Team interest there. How does that pan out for an unofficial dummy of a league?
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Stephen Constantine, the coach of the Indian national team, was at the receiving end of a cannonade of questions, suggestions and opinions after the Blue Tigwers' zestless draw against Nepal in the Deccan city of Pune, on Monday. However, it was the British-Cypriot's answer to a question on the South Asian Football Federation's (SAFF) Championship that raised a few eyebrows.
"For us, the SAFF Cup is not as important as it used to be," calibrated the coach, during the autopsy of the draw at Balewadi, when quizzed on the tournament that would be held in Kerala, in December.
Asked, if he'd been looking forward to the draw for the competition, which is to be held on 17 September, 2015, the coach flatly replied, "No."
Questioned, in this case, as to how he would plan on attacking the SAFF tournament, the coach revealed he wanted to play an age-group team in the competition. "If it was my choice, I would put U-19 team for SAFF. We want to develop our young national team teams. We went to two finals from the competition in the last week. The U19 team had 9 players under-17. Four of them played very well. Both games we lost on penalties. The players would have developed themselves and for sure they’d have learnt. They’ll be better by the U23 stage," he commented.
Constantine suggested that the impending Indian Super League (ISL), which begins on October 3 and concludes on December 20th, 2015, would mean that he cannot select players would reach the semis of the competition for the SAFF Championship.
"Problem with SAFF is its timing. I had asked for it to be made in June, after the Guam game. We had the boys together. December 20th is the final of the ISL. So I won’t be able to choose from the four teams that make the semi-finals of the competition. I have to decide when I can start the camp. SAFF starts on December 23rd and for me, it defies logic."