India head coach Igor Stimac lauded his boys for the sheer heart they showed at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Doha, Qatar, despite the 0-2 defeat against Australia in their opening Group B Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup match.
“I am proud of my boys. They showed that they are a bunch of honest, hard-working people who are committed to whatever we ask of them. They are ready to keep working without sleep, and I must praise them for it,” said Stimac after the game, as quoted by an All India Football Federation (AIFF) press release.
“They love coming to the national team camp, and they love working with the national team staff,” he said.
Given the gap between the two teams in the world ranking, a 0-2 loss for the Blue Tigers against the Socceroos did not come as a huge surprise to football fans.
However, it also showed that a side placed 102nd in the FIFA World Rankings can thwart a team placed 77 places above them. And India did keep the mighty Aussies out for 50 minutes before a fatal error saw the Blue Tigers punished after all the good work.
For India, it was all about separate emotions in two halves, as Australia scored both their goals after the half-time break. While the Croat expressed his frustration at facing such opponents, he was also content with the end result.