AFC Asian Cup 2023: 'I am not a magician' — Indian football team coach Igor Stimac reacts after elimination

Indian football team coach Igor Stimac said that the football community in India need to be patient after the Blue Tigers were eliminated from the AFC Asian Cup 2023 after a defeat to Syria on Tuesday. India were knocked out after losing all three group games in which they failed to score even one goal. After the defeat to 1-0 defeat to Syria at Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar which sealed India’s fate, Stimac said that he is “no magician” who overnight change the fortunes of footballing nation which has not be doing well in age-group competitions. The Croatian coach also “promised” that he will help India qualify for the third round in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. “I have no magic wand in my hand, I am not a magician,” said Stimac at the post-match press conference. “I am a hardworking guy, who is asking you to turn things around and be patient. Good things in football won’t happen overnight. I will take you (India) to the third round in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 12 months’ time, I promise you that. But after that, we have to speed things up.” “We need a greater number of serious competitions for the kids who are 17 and 18 years old, because that’s where we need competitions. They need to be taught how to handle defeats, not just how to win games." Talking about the Syria in particular which India needed to win to stay alive in the competition but lost after Omar Khribin scored a wonderful goal in the 76th minute, Stimac said that his substitutes didn’t make the desired impact in the last phase of the game. He also praised the Syrian goal scorer and compared him to Indian players. “We had a clear plan to take the game into 60 minutes with the clean sheet and to bring on fresh legs, which I was hoping would give us something and get an impact on this team in the last 30 minutes,” Stimac said. “That, obviously didn’t happen. I think Udanta was the only one who came on as a substitute who had few things to offer. Others didn’t have any impact whatsoever. That’s what killed us today." “The quality between Syrian and Indian players was the difference. Because the No. 7 who came on the pitch (from the bench), his market value is double the market value of my 11 players,” he said. “On the market, he is worth 4.5 million (euros) and the starting 11 of India are worth 2.5 million (euros). That’s what I mean when we speak about the difference in execution in the final third."