Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) India’s chief football coach Wim Koevermans was pleased with his team’s passing game against the Maldives in the Nehru Cup football tournament match here Saturday.

The Dutchman feels the passing game is the way forward for India if they want to dominate teams in international football.

“Today the boys showed that they could really play well the passing game. They have done well but I want more from them. They have shown the potential to excel but they have to be confident to play it. It is the only way they can dominate teams,” said Koevermans.

“It was a very good win. The strategy was to move the ball quickly and find a spare man. But that didn’t happen in the first half,” he said.

The coach was happy with his players overlapping their positions. Koevermans had words of praise for wing-back Syed Rahim Nabi, who scored the second goal with a brilliant header.

“Nabi was exceptional. He was overlapping with others. Today in the first half we tried out a few things. We were getting the crosses inside the box but didn’t have men. So we changed our strategy in the second half,” he said.

The coach brought in debutant striker Robin Singh in the mid-field, replacing Sanju Pradhan on the right flank.

“The idea was to bring in more power in the mid-field. Robin did well on debut. He has the power and his presence made an impact,” said Koevarmans.

The coach, however, ruled out starting with two strikers Robin and Chettri in the next match against Nepal.

Maldives coach Istvan Urvanyi was also impressed with India’s passing game.

“India were good at ball possession. It is not the same old kick and run India. They have good direction,” he said.

Urvanyi, however, was upset with his team missing lots of chances.

“Today India scored from two chances that they got. But we missed around four or five,” he said.