'If I knew certain elements...': Igor Stimac lashes out at Indian Super League organisers

India will be fielding a football team to compete in the upcoming Asian Games in China. The team selection was fraught with difficulties because Indian Super League (ISL) clubs did not want to release their finest players given the upcoming season clashes with the continental competition, which begins on September 23. India had a poor outing in the King's Cup 2023 earlier this month.

3 things you need to know 

• Indian football team will participate in the Asian Games after 9 years
• Team India failed to perform well in the King’s Cup 2023 
• Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jinghan have been included in the Asian Games squad 

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Igor Stimac takes a covert dig at the ISL organizers 

The Indian Super League (ISL) organisers and clubs infuriated Igor Stimac, the head coach of the Indian football team. He berated them for not permitting players to compete in the Asian Games, which caused the national federation to hurriedly assemble a team that lacks in strength. During a recent virtual press conference, Stimac made vague references to people who impeded his and the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) attempts to produce a formidable squad made up of members of the present senior national team. With the 10-edition of the ISL season scheduled to begin this week, Stimac said: 

"If I knew that certain elements will stop us from going with the best possible team, I would have rather picked all the players from the I-League and request to train with them for two months and prepare with them for the Asian Games," "It would not have been much different,"

Stimac emphasised that it requires time to build a squad, and a team cannot be built in a day or a week. He said that it would have been better if he had received players from the I-League (the second-tier league in India), and training them for at least two months would have been better than playing with the players released by the ISL clubs for the Asian Games right before the tournament.

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Indian Football Team for the  Asian Games 

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Gurmeet Singh, and Vishal Yadav

Defenders: Anwar Ali, Narender Gahlot, Sandesh Jhingan, Akash Mishra, and Lalchungnunga

Midfielders: Ayush Dev Chhetri, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Abdul Rabeeh, Samuel James, Jeakson Singh, and Suresh Singh

Forwards: Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav, Rahul KP, Liston Colaco, Sunil Chhetri, Vincy Barretto, and Vikram Pratap Singh

Head Coach: Igor Stimac