On 25th evening, India locked horns with Oman in an international friendly at the Maktoum Bin Rashid Stadium in Dubai. The Indian National Football Team was back in action after a long gap of 15 months and put up an Inspiring performance against a strong Oman side, the players were deservedly praised by Head Coach Igor Stimac.
Chinglensana’s own goal gave Oman the lead. However, Manvir Singh’s stunning header from Bipin Singh’s cross ensured the Blue Tigers don not leave without a point.
Head coach of the Indian National Football Team, Stimac was satisfied with the 1-1 draw and applauded the efforts of the men in blue.
They Did Their Best and Tried Everything: Igor Stimac
“One good thing was the result in the end. The whole team reacted really well in the second half. They did their best and tried everything. We had some good transitions, which is something I was looking for. In the end, I have to say I am happy because we had 10 debutants today – some with many minutes on the pitch and some with only few. But, they all did their part in getting our first point from Oman in three games.” – said Stimac to the AIFF media team in the post-match interview.
The match also witnessed a new record of handing 10 players their international debuts. Six of them were in the starting line-up, while the rest four came on as substitutes.
India’s current FIFA ranking is 104, 23 spots behind Oman. Considering the huge gap in ranks of the two national teams, Igor Stimac content with how the match unfolded for India.
Stimac stated, “The second half (against Oman) shows that there is nothing to fear about. Of course, these are better sides and there is a difference of 25-30 spots in the rankings, which is a big gap. But, it doesn’t mean we can’t get the result and we showed it today also.”
Mission UAE:
India will be facing UAE in their next international friendly on 29th March at 9:45 PM IST. We can expect the Blue Tigers to give a tough fight to UAE and clench their first win in the Dubai campaign.
“There is another game now and I need to give a chance to other players who didn’t play today (25th March), which is why we are here. In a month, we will start from scratch and I need to find out what they can do against such sides.” – affirmed Stimac with only a few days to go for the second international friendly.
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