SAFF Cup: Focus on youth as India face Maldives

Lallianzuala Chhangte (on top) became the youngest goal-scorer for India when he netted a brace against Nepal in the ongoing SAFF Cup tournament. — Asian Age

Each eye will be fixated on Stephen Constantine’s pick of young players when India meet the Maldives in the first semi-final of the SAFF Cup at the Greenfield Stadium here on Thursday.

The India coach has seen considerable success in fielding young players so far and believes that the youngsters are capable of filling the shoes of injured players, especially striker Robin Singh.

“Robin is a key player. He is obviously a big loss. But even after he was subbed, we performed very well. The boys have a chance to fill his shoes and claim a position in the national squad,” the coach said.

The confidence he has shown in youngsters has been a major success. Constantine has handed debuts to Lallianzuala Chhangte, who scored a brace against Nepal and the 22-year-old defender Koushik Sarkar, so far.

“I believe the team will give their everything. It is a difficult game. They have a good coach and experienced players. They are very organised team in every department,” he said. For the Maldives, their major concern will be silly mistakes, especially by goalkeeper Mohamed Imran. The goalie was a bundle of nerves when opposition players pressed but the Maldivian coach believes that there is no need to panic.

“Every player has made mistakes and some of them have cost us. I do not want to single out anyone. We are trying to improve and it should reflect (tomorrow),” said coach Ricki Herbert.

Also the focus will be on Ashfaq Ali, the all-time top-scorer in the tournament. The Maldives have a disappointing statistics against India in the SAFF Cup with only three wins in their 11 meetings so far. However, the result of semi-final match will largely depend on how the Indian midfield contains the build-up play of the Maldives.

The Maldives have lost only to Afghanistan in the group matches while India have two wins.

In the second semi-final match, defending champions Afghanistan take on Sri Lanka.

Today’s fixtures India vs Maldives, 3:30 pm Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, 6:30 pm