'Could Alter Careers': Igor Stimac Emphasizes Importance of FIFA WC Qualifier Fixture Against Kuwait

The Indian national football team are slated to take on Kuwait at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata in the second-round  FIFA World Cup Qualifier game, before travelling to Qatar for the final game on June 11.

The game will also mark the farewell for legendary striker Sunil Chhetri as he announced his retirement from the beautiful game a couple of weeks earlier.

Ahead of the crucial fixture, head coach Igor Stimac shed light on the essence of the game and the potential history in the making.

“It’s a huge game. The careers of the boys can change with this game. I want them to enjoy and do their best in the game,” Stimac said.

The Croat emphasised on the importance of strength and mental conditioning during such games.

“For such an important game, we need to do a few things; in regards to strength conditioning, in regards to understanding what it needs, in regards to how important this game is, and in regards to mental strength and self-confidence,” the 56-year-old added.

“So, we work on all aspects needed for our boys to be on top of their form in this game,” he continued.

“There are two key points for the preparations for this game. First, winning the game is crucial. And to reach that target, we need to be very clever. We need to understand that in the game, we require patience,” he further elaborated.

“If we don’t open the scoring in the first half an hour, we need to be intelligent and play quality football together with pace. All these aspects are very important and we have to prepare for them”, Stimac elucidated.

India are on a six-game losing streak and will hope to nip the trend when they welcome Kuwait to West Bengal.

“Each of those matches was very tough and I can clearly state that we controlled all those games in superb ways,” Stimac said.

“We dominated for the bigger parts in each one of these games. We were above them physically. But on other occasions, before the Kuwait games, we had many games that helped us reach that level,” the head coach said.

“But it is a different game now because they are coming here when we didn’t have the opportunity to play games. No league is being played now, no club is available. But we did play two games between us to reach the intensity we required,” he revealed.

He expressed that he was chuffed with the performance of the players despite the run of testing defeats, and added that the side have had a good couple of weeks of training before stepping onto the field.

“And I need to tell you that the boys were superb in those two games. I am very happy with them; happy with everything that was done in the last three weeks,” he added.

“We have to focus on what we have. What we can do and what can be improved. In the final week, we are concentrating on set pieces, offensive tactics, and a few details regarding the shape, team composure, and speed of passing. That’s all,” he concluded.