New Delhi: The Indian men’s football team’s head coach Stephen Constantine addressed a heated press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday ahead of India’s friendly against Jordan. The press conference was overshadowed by talk of discontent within the Indian dressing room and Constantine’s alleged fall-out with captain Sunil Chhetri.
Constantine responded to a question posed by a journalist regarding Chhetri’s absence for the Jordan game because of injury by stating that the striker would be a “huge blow” for the team. “I don’t think you can replace a player of his calibre,” the head coach said.
“But we need someone to step into his shoes as there will come a time when he will not be around. As a result, we would like to identify the options right now so that he can share his experience with the younger lot,” he added.
When he was prodded further by a journalist about his relationship with Chhetri, Constantine snapped back, saying, “In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s injured. Stop talking nonsense, ask me the right question.”
Constantine added that he would have followed a different course of action if the players were indeed unhappy in the dressing room and went on to clarify that there were no problems within the squad. He also defended the decision to hand the captain’s armband to Sandesh Jhingan in the China friendly and stated that it was down to rotation. Constantine pointed out that he had also handed captaincy to the likes of Arnab Mondal, Subrata Paul, and Subashish Bose in the past.
Strikers were a hot topic in the press conference as Constantine was asked about the lack of playing time and form of his attackers playing in the Indian Super League. The Englishman did not respond to specific questions about Jeje Lalpekhlua’s form, but did state that a lack of strikers not playing in the ISL was a big concern and one that required a long-term fix.
“Our boys would rather play wide right, left back,” Constantine said. “When it comes to the Indian clubs, 90% of the teams look to sign foreign strikers and as a result, the young Indian talents tend to avoid the position. As a result, we have a dearth of talent when it comes to the strikers.”
The fact that there were no credible replacements for the position was also highlighted by the Indian coach. “It is a worry for me when my players do not get match time,” he said. “The problem is that we do not have many choices in the position and we are desperately trying to get new talent to fill the position.”
Komal Thatal was included in the Indian camp, but when asked if the ATK winger was ready to play for the senior team, Constantine replied, “No.” The Englishman did add that a considerable amount of work needed to be done with the Indian players in the national camp, as the ISL was “in its infancy” and the “pace [was] not upto the international standard”.
“You don’t see this problem with the Europe-based players, they don’t need that time to readjust. Here we do,” he said.
Constantine added that he would have liked to play 4-5 games before the Asian Cup starts in UAE in January 2019 but that the team would likely play three friendlies leading up to the tournament, including Jordan. India will play Oman and another team on December 31. The Blue Tigers will travel on UAE with 28 players but five would be excluded from the squad on January 2.
When questioned about the possible effects of the Delhi pollution on the national camp, he replied, “Changing the camp is a logistical nightmare. You have to account for travel and staff being involved. I was told that in India, an AQI of 300 and below is acceptable. We were training with an AQI of 268.”
