March 28, 2024 16:40 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Delhi High Court rejects PIL seeking removal of Arvind Kejriwal as CM | MHA extends AFSPA in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh for 6 months | Encourage fair, transparent and legal process: US comments again on Kejriwal's arrest | India and China discuss border disengagement: EAM | Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discusses defence, trade while interacting with Malaysian leaders
The players were not born, neither was I: Constantine

The players were not born, neither was I: Constantine

India Blooms News Service | | 29 Mar 2017, 03:30 pm
Yangon, Mar 29 (IBNS): A win in Myanmar in 64 years! A day after winning the away match against Myanmar in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers 2019, National Coach Stephen Constantine said that “none of the players were born that time.”

“Neither I was born,” he quipped the next moment. In the first of the two-series interview, Constantine mentions about the significance of the result, shrugging off the tag of ‘not being able to win away matches,’ danger of complacency creeping in, ‘winning an away Gold,’ and much more. Excerpts:

India won in Yangon after 64 years. Are you aware of that?

64 years is a long time -- a very long time indeed. I was told that Myanmar have always been India’s bogey team but I was never aware of this slice of history.


What was your immediate reaction when you came to know about it?

The players were not born; neither was I.(smiles).

I am happy that we have broken the Myanmar jinx which has plagued over the 64 years. I am also happy that we have got rid of the tag of ‘not being able to win away matches’ which we had for long.

What does it mean to Indian Football?

When you look at the game most people may think it’s not a major issue – Myanmar is not a powerhouse in Asian Football. But when you look at the significance and what it means to Indian football, this is perhaps one of the biggest wins in our recent history. When you look at from inside, it’s bigger than huge. We now need to build on this.

Where does it put India?

It puts us in the place where we wanted to be. All the Teams will back themselves to win their home matches and try and nick something from the away games. In that perspective, we have won an away gold.

You keep referring to the away loss against Guam. Given the fact that India has 5 matches still left, do you fear a repeat of such a result?

The result against is something which I will not forget for a number of reasons. The compete disrespect which most people showed for Guam affected the team. We were way too confident and casual in our approach and we cannot allow this to happen again. I will not allow myself and players to be complacent again and fall into the trap.

 

Image: AIFF Media

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.