Lack of guile, movement and link up play were the major drawbacks from India's 1-2 loss against a second string New Zealand in the Intercontinental Cup at the Mumbai Football Arena on Thursday, but head coach Stephen Constantine, who opted to rotate his squad with as many as seven changes, backed his decision, knowing that the hosts had already made it to the final with back-to-back wins over Chinese Taipei (5-0) and Kenya (3-0).

"The seven changes were going to happen because we are using this tournament to prepare for Asian Cup. We didn't get the result we wanted, but it was important that the youngsters got their chances," Constantine said at the post-match conference. The most noticeable change that hurt the Blue Tigers was in the defence — the pair of Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika — making way for Salam Ranjan Singh and Subhashish Bose, who struggled throughout the match.