Indian football coach Igor Stimac on Tuesday said that winning the upcoming Intercontinental Cup would be great for the whole team but remarked that he is not insisting on the tournament's results.
"It's important we take the next step forward after beating Thailand on their home soil. Winning the Intercontinental Cup would be great for us. But I am still not insisting on results. Instead, I would rather concentrate on improvement on ball possession, and movements without the ball," All India Football Federation quoted Stimac as saying.
"All our work has been chalked out concentrating on the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. But obviously, every game we win on the pathway will help us to further boost our confidence," he added.
Stimac who was recently appointed as the team's coach said that he is pleased with the team's commitment towards the sport and their willingness to learn.
"Till now, I am extremely delighted with their commitment and willingness to learn and progress on their technical and physical abilities. To become successful in playing an attractive brand of football involves a very complicated process of work. But I stay confident that we are going to make it happen together," Stimac said.
India finished at the third spot in the recently concluded King's Cup. The Blue Tigers lost their opening match against Curacao, but they were able to defeat Thailand to finish third.
This win against Thailand was the first win for Stimac as the coach of the Indian team.
The Indian team is currently in Mumbai for a preparatory camp ahead of the Intercontinental Cup. Stimac said that he would be dividing the camp into two parts to test the players.
"As usual, we will divide the camp into two parts. In the first few days, we will work on testing the players. We will follow that up with drawing up the precise working programme, which will be our second step," Stimac said.
"In this second step, we are going to intensify aerobic, and explosive power work during our morning sessions, and utilise our evening sessions for working on our gameplan," he added.
India will take on Tajikistan in their opening match of the Intercontinental Cup 2019 The tournament will be played at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad from July 7-18.
India will play its second match against DPR Korea on July 13, followed by Syria on July 16.
The tournament is based on a round robin format and the top two teams in the group stage will qualify for the final, which is scheduled to be played on July 18.
( With inputs from ANI )