We’re making too many mistakes: Indian Coach Igor Stimac
Indian football team coach
said his players need to cut down on their errors while passing the ball when
they take on Oman in the fifth game of the preliminary round of the 2022 Fifa
World Cup in Seeb on Tuesday.
India
are winless in Group E after defeat to Oman in the reverse fixture at home that
was followed by three straight draws against Qatar, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
After
an impressive show in Doha against the Asian champions, The Blue Tigers have
been sluggish in the two games against lesser-ranked opposition in Bangladesh
and Afghanistan and have needed late goals to salvage draws in those games.
India have struggled to
break down teams and the Croatian wants improvements from his team ahead of the
Oman clash.
“We are a unit that passes
the ball confidently but we have to keep in mind that we are making too many
mistakes and giving away possession. We have to work further on this,” Stimac
told the All India Football Federation website.
The team reached Muscat on
Sunday after a day’s rest in Dubai as the Croatian will have to quickly prepare
his side for Oman after the quick turnover from the last game.
“We will have a training
session in Muscat today evening to finetune our preparation before taking on
Oman. We know how tough the game will be. So we have to make sure all players
stay fit and deliver maximum on 19th,” he added.
The 52-year-old was not too
concerned about the lack of time for recovery as he believed his squad was fit
enough to deal with games coming thick and fast.
“We are physically very fit
and the players are not getting bogged down on the pitch or suffering cramps.
Conditionally, we’re doing well too. The recovery has been taken care of as per
the plan, and that’s the reason players have adapted to different weather conditions
naturally.” he said.
After the cold weather in
Dushanbe, the temperatures in the Omani capital are expected to be more like
home with an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.
Anything other than a win on
Tuesday will end India’s hopes of making it to the next round of World Cup
qualifiers and thus force them into qualifiers for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
Although the Croatian was
happy to concede the favourites tag to Oman, he found reasons to believe that
his team could spring up a surprise.
“This is a team for the
future and we are in the process of becoming a tough team to play against. We
had created chances to win every match until now. We even created chances
against Qatar in the last minutes. We’re improving gradually and that’s what
makes me proud,” the Croatian said.
India play Oman at the Al-Seeb
stadium on Tuesday with the game kicking off at 8:30 PM IST.