"Final line will be drawn by players' strength of character": Stimac

The Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup is all set to start next month India will face strong teams like Australia and Uzbekistan The Indian football teams head coach Igor Stimac on Friday said that strength of character will be the parameter to decide who will make the cut in the final squadIn the Asian Cup starting from January 13 India will clash with Australia Uzbekistan and Syria all above Stimacs team in FIFA rankingsAlso ReadKnives out after Karim Benzema slumps in SaudiAll the boys in the probable list are similar in their football qualities What we are looking for in the final list of 26 is definitely experience and physical strength and the final line will be drawn by the strength of their character Stimac said on the All India Football Federations social media handlesThis is very important for us as a team because no matter the talent if there is no character nothing can be achieved he addedHead coach Igor Stimac will announce the list of the final 26 players on Saturday Regarding areas in which the team needs improvement he said I am looking for defensive compactness offensive transition and the set pieces mostlyIts also very important to work on manmarking inside the box because I was not happy with that part of our game in the last few games We started leaking some unnecessary goals inside the box because marking was not properly done India will face Australia on January 13 before playing against Uzbekistan January 18 and Syria January 23 All three opponents are technically good physically strong and with great speed So we are not going to have much difference in approach of all these three gamesAlso ReadWhatrsquos sports without patriarchyThe main focus for us will be to check the fitness level of our players at present and see how much we can develop in the next two weeks he saidStimac is also grappling with injuries to few of his key players Defensive midfielder Jeakson Singh who underwent surgery on his left shoulder early last month was named among the 50 probables but he is uncertain to be in the final 26Midfielders Glan Martins and Shah Abdul Samad both Mohun Bagan players had suffered injuries recently which has given more headache to StimacDefender Anwar Ali and winger Ashique Kuruniyan were not added in the 50 player list as they are battling with the injuriesThe 1998 World Cup bronze medallist from Croatia said he wanted the players to believe in themselves and enjoy the game during the Asian Cup in Doha where they will be playing in the stadiums which had hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup I am sure our fans will turn out in huge numbers to support the Blue Tigers and help them reach the needed level of confidence he said while speaking to the AFC Asian Cup Local Organising CommitteeOn talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri the head coach said Chhetri is unbelievable Its really important for our younger players to have such an inspirational figure as a captain I hope the team can make the nation proud by playing to the best of its abilitiesWith PTI Inputs