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Football

Rahim Ali a big loss, he was forming a great partnership with Sunil Chhetri: Stimac

India national football team coach Igor Stimac speaks about preparations for the Asian Cup qualifiers and the possible team combinations for the friendlies this month.

Rahim Ali a big loss, he was forming a great partnership with Sunil Chhetri: Stimac
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Igor Stimac and Sunil Chhetri (AIFF)

By

Dipankar Lahiri

Updated: 10 May 2022 8:51 AM GMT

Young forward Rahim Ali's injury will be a big loss for the Indian team because his presence had been making Sunil Chhetri's life easier, head coach Igor Stimac said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters from the national camp in Kolkata, the head coach laid out his plans for the next couple of months - a period which includes the final round of the Asian Cup qualifiers. Talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri has reportedly informed federation officials that he will take international retirement if India fail to go through the final round, while Stimac's job is also set to be on the line if India do not make it through their group.

"Sunil Chhetri is our main force in the offence. We didn't involve him in Bahrain because he needed time to recover from his problems of the last two-three years. It must be said Rahim Ali is a big loss for us because he was forming a great partnership with Sunil. He was allowing Sunil to get into more free spaces, he was making his life easier," Stimac said about India's forward line.

Rahim Ali is one of the players Stimac has released from his initial shortlist of players selected for the national camp because of a persistent niggle he had played through all season in the ISL, the coach said.

Full faith in Gurpreet: Stimac

Stimac also said while the increasing number of goals scored by Indians in the ISL is a promising sign, how potential forwards for the national team are deployed on the wings makes his job tougher.

"The decreasing number of foreign players in the ISL is of tremendous help for the national team. But if you see how many Indian forwards are used in the ISL, they play as wide wingers. In these roles, they are up against Indian full backs. In international football, they would come up against a different sort of defenders, they would need more muscle. They cannot be judged based on ISL performances," Stimac said.

Vikram Pratap Singh, one of the Mumbai City FC players who featured in the Asian Champions League campaign, was cited as one such example. "He was not getting involved enough, I wanted to see much more of him in action," the coach said.

Stimac also said he has full faith in Gurpreet Sandhu to protect the Indian goal despite the underwhelming season the custodian has had. "Goalkeepers need to be judged differently from outfield players. What is important is how stable you have been for the last 3-5 years. Gurpreet had an average season in the ISL, Bengaluru were not at their best, but I have full faith in him, you should see him in action now," Stimac said.

India will play a couple of practice matches - vs ATK Mohun Bagan and vs an assorted team of I-League players - in Kolkata over the next week before playing a couple of friendly matches against Zambia and Jordan. Their Asian Cup qualifying campaign begins on June 8. India would be considered favourites to go through from their group, which also includes Cambodia, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. Stimac pointed out Afghanistan could be the toughest opponents because of their physical style of play.

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