Asian Games 2023: Indian Football Coach Igor Stimac Laments Lack Of Preparation Time & Availabilty Of Best Players

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Hangzhou, September 29: Indian football head coach Igor Stimac has slammed the lack of preparation time and unavailabilty of the country's best players following the 0-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia in the round of 16 of Asian Games 2023.

Indian men's football team's participation in the Asian Games was in doubt after the Indian Super League released the season schedule, which created a tussle with clubs over the availability of certain players.

This created a dilemma in the team selection, which took place a lot of times and the selected players were then unable to practice together before travelling to China. Stimac was already critical about the best players being unavailable and short time for preparation.

Following the Blue Tigers exit from the Asian Games, Stimac echoed the same and suggested to not send a national team without the best players for tournaments of this magnitude.

"Big lesson from this tournament is - Don't send us anywhere if we can't get our best players to represent the country. Also, do not send us anywhere if you can provide time for us to work and prepare well," the Indian football coach told RevSportz.

While he said the team were exposed in Hangzhou, Stimac also added that the fans can be proud of the team that played without any real preparation.

"We were here exposed while representing India. We took it well and the Indian fans can be proud of these boys who came here unprepared and without having played a single training session together," Stimac added.

The Blue Tigers led by Sunil Chhetri reached the round of 16 from Group A, where they opened with a 1-5 loss to hosts China just under 24 hours of their arrival in the country for the tourament.

The Indian team, however, bounced back with a 1-0 win over Bangladesh followed by a 1-1 draw against Myanmar. These two results saw the team finish second in th group, and hence were drawn to meet Saudi Arabia in the last 16.

Stimac will next take charge of the Indian senior team in the friendly against Malaysia on October 13. But reports suggest the Croatian's future may be away from the Indian team as Bosnia and Herzegovina national team job may be on the cards.