India vs Syria, AFC Asian Cup 2023: Igor Stimac Explains Who 'Killed The Game'

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India head coach Igor Stimac was not happy with his substitutes as they failed to impact the all-crucial India vs Syria match of AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Al Khor on Tuesday (January 23). The Croatian coach felt that barring Udanta Singh's direct runs none of his substitutes were effective.

Igor Stimac made five changes after halftime, which namely included Nikhil Poojary, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Sahal Abdul Samad and Anirudh Thapa among the other four names. Sahal, in particular, was making a return to competitive action after more than a month due to an injury layoff.

The 56-year-old Croatian said the plan was to maintain a clean sheet for the first hour of the game and then use fresh legs from the bench to impact the game in the last half an hour. However, not much happened in the attacking third despite some attack-minded changes.

"I think that was our biggest problem today because we had a clear plan to take the game into 60 minutes with a clean sheet and to bring on the fresh legs, which I was hoping would give us something and get an impact on this team in the last 30 minutes, which obviously didn't happen.

"I think Udanta (Singh) was the only one who came as a substitute and did a few things. And the performances of substitutes killed the game for us today," said Igor Stimac at the post-match press conference at the Al Bayt Stadium.

Known for his horses-for-courses approach, Igor Stimac has used different players as substitutes in all three games of AFC Asian Cup 2023 with the likes of Liston Colaco, and Rahul KP coming off the bench in the last couple of games and playing no roles in the game today. Stimac said his decision to use a player depends on how the players performed during the training sessions in build-up to the match.

"The players, whatever they get is what they deserve. It's a simple philosophy which I have. We cannot credit players for what's been done in the game five days ago. I follow my players day-by-day, on a daily basis by watching their body language, their behaviour. I want competition in my team in each position every minute, every second of the day," he said.