Dhaka: Indian football team chief coach Stephen Constantine Thursday has made it clear that the SAFF Cup football tournament is a platform for his boys to impress and earn their places in the squad for the Asian Cup to be held early next year in the UAE.
“These boys have a carrot in front of them which is a berth in the Asian Cup squad. They are well aware of the fact that they need to perform constantly to earn the same,” Constantine said.
India will face Maldives in the final Saturday and Constantine believes that it will be a tough contest as some of their main players didn’t feature against the Men in Blue in the group game.
“Maldives have shown their worth in the semifinal against Nepal. A 3-0 win against Nepal was not an easy task. Some of their players didn’t play against us and they did some major damage work against Nepal,” the Englishman stated.
“We are expecting a tough game against Maldives. But as I said before, we have come with a strong intent to win the tournament.”
Meanwhile, Manvir Singh who is leading the goal scoring chart with three goals which include his double against arch-rivals Pakistan in the semis said the focus has already shifted to the final.
“It was a group of tough guys and the job was never going to be an easy one. But we had the self-belief to churn out the positive result and eventually, we did,” the 23-year-old Manvir said.
“Now, we have another major task in three days and we will need to focus on the final. We are working as a unit and we just need to keep our heads down and continue the work.”