Indian football has shown significant improvement in the last decade, says Afghanistan coach Ashley Westwood

Indian football has improved significantly in the last decade and the players have remained consistently fit physically, feels Afghanistan head coach Ashley Westwood. Westwood, who has previously coached Bengaluru FC and Punjab FC, also acknowledged the fact that the players have learnt to stay on for the full 90 minutes during a game and are being conditioned correctly, due to which players hardly get cramps these days.

“Ten years ago when I came here, compared to that, (the Indian) football has improved significantly,” Westwood told news agency PTI.

“Every player is physically fit, everyone is conditioned correctly, they last 90 minutes (and) you don’t see Indian players getting cramps,” he added.

Westwood is currently in Guwahati with the Afghanistan team ahead of their FIFA World Cup qualifier against India. The two teams had played out a goalless draw in Saudi Arabia last week.

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Westwood said Afghanistan’s focus ahead of their World Cup qualifier clash has been on getting the basics right.

“(Even) Cristiano Ronaldo also misses chances, and still he is one of the best players in the world that’s football,” Westwood said.

“Just get the ball in the right areas and play well — that’s all we are concerned about,” he said, adding Afghanistan team’s scores have improved since he took charge.

Westwood also picked Indian defensive midfielder Jeakson Singh as one of the promising players.

With PTI inputs