New Delhi: When Stephen Constantine leads his Indian team out to face Thailand in their opening game of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 on January 6 he will be looking for a little bit of personal payback.
The Englishman, who has been in charge of the Indian side since January 2015, will be going head-to-head with Thailand coach Milovan Rajevac for the first time in almost a decade, with the experienced Serb having come out ahead the last time they met.
“He is a very good coach and has great experience, I faced him a few years ago when he was in Ghana and I was with Sudan, he won that game 2-0 so I’m looking to even up the score,” Constantine told the-AFC.com.
“But I would like to remind you that he had Michael Essien, Mathew Amoa and a few other very good players.
“Thailand are – and have been – a good side in recent years and will be at the AFC Asian Cup. All the games will be a tough game for us. They have a great coach and they have quality all over the pitch. We will need to be at our best to get a good result.”
The meeting with Rajevac and his Thai team at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi will mark India’s return to the AFC Asian Cup Finals for only the second time since 1984, with the country having qualified for the 2011 tournament in Qatar as winners of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup.
But, with the Finals expanded from 16 to 24 teams, Constantine successfully steered his team through the qualifying rounds as India finished ahead of Kyrgyz Republic, Myanmar and Macau to win their group and book their place in the UAE.
That means, in addition to the Thais, Constantine’s team will take on hosts UAE before playing their final group game against Bahrain, who they met on their last visit to the Finals eight years ago.
“It’s always difficult,” he says of the match-up with Alberto Zaccheroni’s hosts on January 10. “You never want to get drawn with the hosts, but we have and that’s that. We will go into the game as underdogs, as will be the case in all our games and that’s fine.
“(Omar Abdulrahman’s injury) is a loss for them for sure. He’s a wonderful player but they have been without him for a few months now. I am sure there is going to be someone who is going to take his place and he will cause us different problems.
“They are a good side but at home, the pressure is on them.
“I feel we can be one of the teams that qualify and all of the games are going to be key games. There are no easy games or must wins, we will try and win every game we are in and, after three games, hopefully we have enough points to get us out of the group to the next round.”
While a place in the Round of 16 is the aim for the Blue Tigers, Constantine knows that just qualifying for the Finals can give football a popularity push in cricket-mad India.
“It’s huge for Indians, for me and for all the players,” says Constantine of the effect playing at the AFC Asian Cup will have on India’s football community and beyond. “It’s not every day you get to play in the continent’s biggest football championship and we are looking forward to it.
“Hopefully, India can regularly qualify for these events because the impact has been massive all over the country."
Source: the-afc.com