Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has thrown his weight behind Stephen Constantine amid talk that some of the Indian team's senior players are unhappy with the head coach's methods.
“Everything is fine with us and we've been getting results and that's the biggest example we can give you,” he said here on Wednesday.
“We just want to concentrate on the job in hand and keep the rumours aside. We need to stay together as a team because that's the way to move forward.”
The India and Bengaluru FC goalkeeper denied that such reports had any effect on the team. “The unity in the team is so strong that we are not affected by these things. We believe in our system and the players around us,” the Red Bull athlete said.
Asked if Constantine was the right man to lead India into the 2019 Asian Cup, Gurpreet responded: “He got us to the Asian Cup; so why not?”
India has been placed alongside Thailand, Bahrain and the UAE in Group A of the competition. Constantine's wards should view their chances at the Asian Cup with greater confidence after holding China to a goalless draw in Suzhou earlier this month.
READ| India, China play out a goalless draw
Gurpreet was the star of the show as the national side pulled off a historic result, but he cautioned against reading too much into one performance.
“It's good to believe that (India can get out of Group A) but we shouldn't think too far ahead,” he said. “We just drew against China; we play Jordan (on Nov. 17 in Amman) next. One step at a time. If we go to the Asian Cup and get a good result in the first game, we need to make sure that we keep our heads down. If we are already thinking about getting out of the group, it's not going to help us.”
Gurpreet was modest in his appraisal of his own display against China. “The defence played its heart out and helped me and I helped them,” he said.
“To get a clean sheet away from home against China was very special. Looking back at the game now, I feel there are things I can improve on still. I need to work on those before the Asian Cup.”
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