Ali Mabkhout alone had more number of international caps than most of the first XI + a couple of substitutes combined : Pipe down with your expectations from a group of youngsters playing together at this level in the international stage for the first time! India has just begun it's new footballing cycle, that's what Stimac is trying to encourage through so many debuts, to be able to give a taste to amazing youth who work hard and will come back with ample confidence the next time this fixture is there. These pains are part of trusting the process!
1. My optimism stems from what I saw in the first half, especially the high line of pressing that led to a wonder-assist + chip & penalty being some of few penetrative moves against an Indian defence ( almost each member of which is playing together for the first time, thus an obvious lack of chemistry Vs UAE which has almost 66-80% of the same XI that beat us in 2019)
2. Also impressed with the fact that ~15 players got their debut over these few games,and know we know which ones have immediate potential for the NT as either first XI or Subs (Apuia,Liston,Bipin,Manvir,Suresh,Aakash, Chinglensana ), which ones have lots of work to do to get there (Hitesh,Aashique, Chaangte, Yasir), and which ones mostly won't make the cut going forward (Masoor Sharif, Raynier)
3. Also impressed with the hunger the team showed even at 5-0/6-0 down to try and keep the ball (which isn't as easy as we think just because we can play Fifa well)
4. Having watched the NT since 2002, and seen an entire generation of youth make the step up before these youngsters,can safely say this batch has a few steps more of hunger and technical ability, their next steps are focus on intelligence,anticipation, concentration at a high level and micro Decision making with the ball (teams like UAE eat up that extra second they'd get in ISL,thus leaving them occasionally exposed) which only come through more and more match experience (including unfortunate humiliations like tonight)
I am worried about the Play. When you have one of the better wingers in ISL make a pass to ......... empty space on the pitch, its maddening. When your players play tika taka in league but can't make 3 passes for national team, its maddening. Basics were missing in both games.
Apuia Manvir and Bipin ......Suresh to some extent were the only players who looked comfortable with the ball.
@Sanjeev Biswas We need to implement ISL into national setup. Sign 5 PIOs and put them in the backbone of the team 2 CBs Dany Bath and Who 2 MFs Yan Dhanda and Who 1 FW Don't know any .....
or Naturalize Hugo Boumous and Jahou ammend the act and bring down the stay in country to 2 years for sports persons.
@AshishKaul it will not happen that's for sure.. Our politicians will not change it just coz we are bad at football, we will have to make the best out of what we have.. Change league structure, add more teams, bring more money to football, academies, infrastructure, etc etc.. List goes on and on.. Till then wait for few more qualifying matches and by chance if we are able to beat a team or two you might be able to hear from aunty or her chela (prafool) that today's match was an aberration and we are still on the way to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2026..so sleep tight now and we will have a good day tomorrow 😃
@Sanjeev Biswas For that we will have to be extremely patient. Its a long and slow process. If we focus only on grass roots it will take at least 15 years for such fruits to ripe. Even then the quality and quantity of such fruits can't be guaranteed.
In the meanwhile if we keep performing like these 2 games, then interest among people will also dip in Football as a viable career option. At the end of such a tragedy it will remain a poor Indians game and limited to few pockets.
I still can't stomach the fact that he experimented against top teams. Don't you do experiments with weaker teams. You test your bench strength against Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghans, countries that we have struggled to defeat in recent past.
Comments
I am worried about the Play.
When you have one of the better wingers in ISL make a pass to ......... empty space on the pitch, its maddening.
When your players play tika taka in league but can't make 3 passes for national team, its maddening.
Basics were missing in both games.
Apuia Manvir and Bipin ......Suresh to some extent were the only players who looked comfortable with the ball.
Sign 5 PIOs and put them in the backbone of the team
2 CBs Dany Bath and Who
2 MFs Yan Dhanda and Who
1 FW Don't know any .....
or Naturalize Hugo Boumous and Jahou
ammend the act and bring down the stay in country to 2 years for sports persons.
For that we will have to be extremely patient.
Its a long and slow process.
If we focus only on grass roots it will take at least 15 years for such fruits to ripe.
Even then the quality and quantity of such fruits can't be guaranteed.
In the meanwhile if we keep performing like these 2 games, then interest among people will also dip in Football as a viable career option. At the end of such a tragedy it will remain a poor Indians game and limited to few pockets.
Some tweets are doing rounds .....
Arab commentator expressing words of wisdom
Don't you do experiments with weaker teams.
You test your bench strength against Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghans, countries that we have struggled to defeat in recent past.
Do siddis play football?
I think we tried them in Athletics in 90s but stopped the programme