Constantine showers praise on his boys after terrific show

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Mumbai, June 2: There’s nothing more that a head coach one can ask for after his team has pumped in five goals for no reply in a game of football. That was the level of pleasure that Stephen Constantine side showed after India’s emphatic 5-0 win over Chinese Taipei in their opener of the Intercontinental Cup on Friday.

“We played well in quite a few games in the last few months. Today everything clicked; the boys were much sharper than they were in the previous two games. There were a few encouraging performances from the youngsters," said Constantine.

“We are pleased with the result today, but let’s not get carried away. We have bigger fights lined up, I am thinking about the next game.”

The game saw Constantine hand Subhasish Bose his international debut while Anirudh Thapa was also handed his first start for India. And the boys made the most of the opportunity to impress the gaffer. But it was Pranoy Halder who walked away with words of appreciation from the gaffer after his impressive shift against Chinese Taipei that saw him score his first international goal.

“He (Pronay Halder) reminds me of me as young player. Very aggressive and he needs to control that. He's a destroyer and I'm pleased he got the goal. We got tougher games coming so let's not get carried away. (Anirudh) Thapa has great potential and works hard. We need that to continue. He could be with the national team for the next ten years," the Englishman remarked.

Chinese Taipei has chosen to travel with a young side for this competition. With as many as six Under-23 players, two U-19 players starting Friday’s game, this might not be the ideal preparation India is hoping for in their build-up to the AFC Asian Cup, 2019.

But Constantine chose not to look much into it. “I don't control what and who they (opposition) bring. We play whoever is in front of us. We had two players who had debuts and the other two came on too, so we also played young players. Kenya will be a completely different problem for us," he said.

Meanwhile his opposite number Gary White too seemed pleased with the way his young Chinese Taipei side approached the game. Despite the heavy loss, White chose to look at the positives from the game. “Everything went right for us in terms of the future,” he said. “It’s about development of the side. They have learnt more in this 90 minutes than they can ever in 100 training sessions.”

The head coach of the visiting team also had some special praise for the Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri and hoped that his boys will one day look up to the Indian legend.

“He showed to my young players how to deal with a senior level at the senior level. My players will definitely utilise the experience in a positive manner. Congratulations to Sunil for his wonderful career and the goals. The youngsters from my team will certainly look up to him someday.”