When India dropped crucial points away in a listless draw to an under-strength Afghanistan side in Abha last Thursday, unsurprisingly, the pitchforks were out in force for head coach Igor Stimac and several members of the team. The team has been on a five-match winless run, which included the Asian Cup drubbing, and hasn’t scored in any of them. The fans who stayed up past midnight to watch the draw against Afghanistan wouldn’t have any reason to believe that the team is on an upward curve.
Stimac, however, remains calm amid the storm around him.
“I started loving it [the criticism]!,” quipped the Croatian, a day before the return fixture at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium. To be fair to Stimac, he has been unequivocal in his end goal with this team for quite some time now: take them to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, where India has never been before. The positive gains from the first half of 2023 were to help India build up to achieve this feat.
“I was ready to accept suffering, defeat and abuse to get to June and prove to everyone once again, where we will go in the next way of our work. I was presenting a realistic picture of where we stand, where we can go, and how much time we need to do that. And I can keep repeating it, I don’t have a problem repeating it. My contract is until 2026, it’s very clear.
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“So whoever feels it is better to abuse me or the players because of the result, and if they feel good about it, then I am happy. And if it takes suffering tomorrow, we will accept it. Because, at the end of every suffering, comes the light at the end of the tunnel. We are learning through every defeat and poor performance,” said an optimistic Stimac.
The pre-match press conference had the Stimac classics, too. In over a 30-minute long interaction in a packed room, there were several long-winded answers on what he can do with long training camps, calls for unity within the Indian football eco-system and less criticism, how Indian Super League clubs are playing the strikers out of position, his issue with the football calendar, among others.
He then did the most Stimac thing possible, claiming he would break his contract and step down from his post if the team failed to qualify to the third round of the qualifiers. “Never mind the contract [until 2026], if I don’t take India to the third round, I will leave, with my pride, honour and everything which was done here in the five years of work,” said Stimac, as journalists immediately started scribbling down on their notes and phones.
Then he added, “But if we qualify, there is plenty of work to be done here with 10 more games to come.” And if he gets the job done, there will be more of Stimac. His contract will get extended for another two years -- making him the longest-serving Indian team coach.
And whether you are ‘Stimac in’ or ‘Stimac out’, India needs a big performance to get past Afghanistan and move closer to Stimac’s promised land.
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