Mathematically, India has three more games to seal the qualification for the 2019 Asian Cup to be played in United Arab Emirates. But coach Stephen Constantine knows how fortunes can change at any minute and wants his players to look at the next game against Macau as if it’s the last of the campaign.
As things stand now, India have nine points from three Group A encounters and another three points would see them qualify for the continental championship for the first time since another Englishman, Bob Houghton, took them to the Asian Cup in 2011.
And Constantine wants them to get the job done against Macau in Bengaluru on October 11.
“We have to be focused and we can’t afford to think what happens after that. We have this game coming in and we need to think, how we can win it,” said Constantine ahead of the team’s first training session at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday evening.
“It is in our hands and feet. We know the type of football Macau will try and play. Pretty much as they say ‘park the bus’. We will have to be patient, continue to do the hard work and try to find something some [thing] to unlock them,” he added.
While the team has looked good throughout this campaign, Constantine insists that the focus on strengthening the overall squad and long term development has started to show results.
“The whole purpose for me was to build the team for the future. I think that we can sustain this. We now have quite a strong core, one guy goes out due to injury, another can come in, and there is not too much loss in quality and this was the purpose for me from the beginning to try and build a team. So we are in a position now which is the best position we have been from sometime,” said Constantine as he quickly points out that there are at least 10 players in the preparatory camp from the U-23 squad.
The Englishman has a fully fit squad at his disposal unless any of the Bengaluru FC players, who will join the camp on Monday, are carrying niggles or any kind of injury.
No favourites in U-17 World Cup
Before the senior team took to the field for their practice session, Constantine sat through the Fifa U-17 World Cup warm-up game between New Zealand and England and felt that there would be no favourites.
“The thing with the U17 World Cup, one team can beat the other. I want India to do well and qualify from the group at least, that will be a massive achievement, but they are in a difficult group. I had one week with them, about seven weeks ago, there have been changes,” he said.
As the senior team coach, Constantine insists that long term plan for the U-17 players was important to build a strong bench strength and expressed his happiness that the All India Football Federation has prepared a roadmap for the same.
“I had suggested the Arrows (U-19 team in I-League) during my earlier stint and though it did not work out financially, it did help a lot of players. My personal view is that if a player is good enough to play at the highest level, he is old enough to play. These U-17 boys now need to play in the top league after the World Cup,” he added.