‘Need to find rhythm quickly’
National coach Stephen Constantine says he expects “hard work, commitment and professionalism” from his wards as they begin a preparatory camp in Mumbai ahead of the Asian Cup football qualifiers.
His spoke of his objective of helping India qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.
“At the camp it is hard work, professionalism, and enthusiasm. For me these are the best moments when you are able to train with the national team. It’s the thing, which I do best.
“The national team obviously is the mirror of a nation’s football and I think in these last two years we have managed to make the nation proud. We still have a long way to go but our objective will be to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019,” Constantine said.
The coach said his prime focus in the camp would be to get back the boys in rhythm as they are assembling after a long time without international commitments.
“Given the fact that we have not been together for quite sometime, the most important thing will be how quickly we can get back to the rhythm with regards to player understanding and our general attitude. We have to prepare carefully for the difficult games,” the Englishman added.
India are drawn with Macau, Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic in Group A of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which begins this month.
India’s first match of the group is an away fixture against Myanmar on March 28, followed by a home game against the Kyrgyz Republic on June 13.
The coach expects Myanmar to be tough opponents, stressing on the development made under their German coach Gerd Zeise.
“One needs to be conscious that they qualified on merit for the Fifa U-20 World Cup on merit. This goes to highlight the good work which is being done in Myanmar and the consistency that they will carry from their junior national team to the seniors,” the ex-Rwanda coach said.