Must strengthen our backline with determination and focus: Igor Stimac

India’s football head coach Igor Stimac feels they must strengthen their backline with determination and focus in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup clash against Syria on Tuesday. India suffered a 2-0 loss against Australia in their opening game whereas they were beaten ignominiously by 3-0 by Uzbekistan.

After two disappointing losses, the Blue Tigers have a difficult route to the round of 16 in the tournament. India will want other results to go their way and the match against Syria is a must-win game for them.

India has thus far failed to score in the first two matches but the Croatian feels the defense is going to hold the key.

Pinpointing the issue, Stimac said, “The point which I am not happy about and not satisfied with is the defensive shape and reactions inside the box. Marking inside the box hasn’t been good enough and that caused us lots of problems.”

“It’s clearly showing that things need to be changed there, that awareness needs to be at a higher level when the cross is from the opponent player coming to our box, but especially the second balls, our reactions are late on these second balls. We have been working on that lately so hopefully we are going to improve there,” he added.

The 56-year-old gaffer said that Syria is a similar team to Uzbekistan and thus India will once again have their work cut out.

“Syria is a very similar team to Uzbekistan with several experienced players coming from top tier divisions and based on experience I would say, physical side, playing in classical 4-4-2, strong boys upfront, good holding the ball, some nice good young talented players there in the squad also. You can see the way they move, they keep the shape, how strong they come forward, how they hold the ball. That’s a very serious team. So the challenge for us will not be less than in the first two games,” stated Stimac in the pre-match press conference.

Sharing the strategy that he has tried instilling in his men, Stimac added, “But as I say to my boys, when you fight against the physical sides, the best way of fighting is escape from duels and contacts with quick passing and moving. We are capable of doing that, so, we just need to see how focused we going to be tomorrow and whether are we going to use our chances more importantly are we going to strengthen our backline with more determination, more focus, and more quick decision-making inside the box about man to man marking.”

India will take on Syria at Al Bayt Stadium.