The senior Indian men’s football team will be facing the first test of its Asian Cup aspirations when it takes on a young Lebanon side in the final of the Hero Intercontinental Cup on Sunday.
The title decider will be held here at the Kalinga Stadium, which previously saw the completion of the league stage where India emerged as the topper with seven points. Lebanon, which finished second with five points, is the challenger as India looks to regain its winning rhythm after drawing the last league game goalless with the former (on Thursday).
“Things were in our favour in the last match and it could have been a nice win. But it didn’t happen, and now we need to continue with our efforts and reach our goal in the final,” Stimac said ahead of the title fight. The draw in the last match also ended the seven-game winning run for India. Stimac said that he hoped to see his team regain the winning touch in the final. “I would have been worried if we were not creating chances, but that hasn’t been the case in the tournament,” he said. “Our boys are playing with great faith, and we need to keep supporting them so that they keep rising,” said Stimac.
Lebanon’s Serbian coach Aleksandar Ilic said it will be a great achievement if his team can turn the tables on India. “The majority of our squad is young and does not have a lot of international experience at the senior level. I am really proud of my players for making it to the final,” Ilic said while adding that his team is eager to make history as Lebanon has not played in any final in 59 years.
“We faced a lot of difficulties in forming the team and had a choice of just 16 players in the initial matches. We did not have our regular central defenders and had to manage with players who play as defensive midfielders. Despite all the hardships we have reached the final and we would like to make the most of it,” Ilic said, while adding that six players later joined the side to make it a squad of 22 now.
“We need the speed and organisation to get the better of the physical game that Lebanon plays. We have certain (injury) problems with some players in the squad but we will assess their fitness once again in the practice today and make changes in the squad if required,” Stimac said about the condition of the squad ahead of the final. “But we will surely do everything within our abilities to make our supporters happy here,” he added.
Injury concerns have come to bother Stimac, who will be missing the services of Ishan Pandita. The forward is nursing an injured hamstring that he suffered during training ahead of the tournament. “Pandita could have been a great asset for us and could have solved our scoring problems. We had a lot of expectations from him but in the second week of his training he clashed with Sandesh (Jhingan) and pulled his muscle in a way that he is uncertain now for a long time,” Stimac said while adding that Ashique Kuruniyan, with a troubling ankle, and Rahul Bheke are also not fit enough to play the complete duration of the match.
“If we want our strikers to come up we need to support them when they are getting a chance. Rahim Ali has talent and he now needs support and appreciation to do well in the national team,” said Stimac when asked about Sunil Chhetri’s partner in attack.
The Indian team received a lot of appreciation from the Lebanon coach, Ilic, who said that he is quite surprised with the transformation happening to the Indian team in the last decade. “I am positively surprised about the Indian team. They have done an amazing job over the last ten years, and Indian football looks a lot different now. In this tournament, India have rotated heavily in every game, but the value the players bring to the pitch hasn’t changed,” said Ilic, who incidentally was Indian head coach Stimac’s teammate in the Spanish club Cadiz CF in the early part of the 90s.
(In case the regulation 90 minutes does not see a result, penalty shoot-outs will be applied next to decide the winner)
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