AFC Asian Cup qualifiers: Rankings don’t matter, we need to be hungry against Cambodia – Igor Stimac

India’s football head coach Igor Stimac doesn’t want his team to be complacent against Cambodia in their AFC Asian Cup qualifiers clash, which will take place at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Wednesday. Cambodia is ranked 171st in FIFA rankings whereas India is at 106th place.

However, Stimac doesn’t want to give a lot of weightage to rankings and feels his team needs to be hungry against Cambodia to get the best result. The Croatian added that Cambodia isn’t here to only participate and they will also be looking to win.

There is no doubt that India will start the contest as big favorites but they will be making a mistake if they take their opponents as lightly.

Igor Stimac said while talking to the press, “I don’t look at the rankings and Cambodia didn’t come here just to participate. They came here with the same desire, to win the games. When India was 184 and 150, India did not go to participate, they did not go to lose, they went to win games. I will never say we’re going to be beating anyone easily. Because that wouldn’t do good in the motivational aspect for my team. We need to be hungry for this and we need to be ready, we need to be fully motivated.

He added, “And if you are preparing your team to go out and play an easy game, to get an easy win, it will never happen. Today, football doesn’t bring easy games. I am sorry. It doesn’t bring easy games anymore. There is a very small margin of difference in the quality and that makes a difference. Do you score or don’t? That’s what makes the difference. If you open up the scoring early that makes your opponents very nervous. And that changes everything – mindset, confidence, and result. So let’s look at football from a very realistic point.”

A huge crowd is expected to support India at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata. The 54-year-old is expecting the fans to turn in numbers and support the home team.

Stimac said, “We’re expecting the fans to come in numbers, to extend their support to the national team, to push boys to their extra strength for their legs, for their hearts and for their mindset. With them in the stands, it would bring us extra joy. Once again, I appreciate the fans because the last time out, they cheered for us in huge numbers and supported the team with all their passion, bringing in a huge motivation factor for the players to push themselves on the pitch every minute.”

Speaking on the style of play that his team will adopt in the match against Cambodia, Stimac said they will look to press in every situation of the game and they will be prepared.

He concluded, “We prepare ourselves even in the worst-case scenarios, to press from the first minute of the game or to even press under high pressure. Nothing to hide about that, we need to prove that we are the favorites in the group, we need to control the game, we need to be ready for the opponent’s style of play, and just be ready for whatever comes in front of us.”