 |
| Suzuki SAFF Championship 2015: India face Sri Lanka in their first match |
SAFF Championship 2015
India vs Sri Lanka
Venue: Trivandrum International Stadium
Date: 25th December 2015
Ranking: India(166), Sri Lanka(194)
Kick-off: 18:30 Hrs IST
Live Telecast: Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD4
Team India start their SAFF Suzuki Cup 2015 campaign against Sri-Lanka today at the Trivandrum International Stadium, Kerala.
Under Stephen Constantine Team India have seen many changes with the influx of youth. The former Rwanda Head Coach shared his thoughts on the same."When I took over I had to make a choice -- either to continue with the tried and tested whose average age was around 30, or to rebuild the squad. I opted for the second despite being aware that it won’t deliver you immediate results," said Stephen Constantine, the current Indian National Team Head Coach.
The preperation of the SAFF Championship was probably not very smooth as Bengaluru FC declined to release their players for the national camp whereas Romeo Fernandes and Mandar Rao Dessai of Dempo SC were not released too for which both of them were show caused by the governing body of Indian Football, AIFF.
Stephen Constantine was quoted saying,n"We have lost Sandesh (Jhingan who’s also an U-23 Player), Lobo (Cavin) and Seityasen Singh. Anas pulled a hamstring and we had to release him too. Besides, there are a number of guys whom we need to be careful with."
Currently ranked 194 in the latest FIFA-World Rankings, Sri Lanka have already won their first match courtesy an injury time winner against Nepal on 23rd December 2015. The Lankans will not be an easy outing for the Blue Tigers as per Constantine's assessment.
Regarding their opponents, Stephen Constantine said, "They play a defensive formation and will hit us on the counter attacks. They have some decent Players and work extremely hard. There are no easy games for us - in fact, against anybody. I expect Sri Lanka to give everything they have. We have to be patient and see what happens."
The match between India and Sri Lanka kicks-off at 6:30 PM IST. Live Telecast on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD4.
0 comments:
Post a Comment