Stephen Constantine believes India can spring a surprise at the Asian Cup
Stephen Constantine
believes India can spring a surprise at the Asian Cup in the UAE and insists
they are not there to make up the numbers.
India are appearing at
the continental championship for only the second time in the past 35 years and
the side's manager Constantine has set his sights on steering the country to
the knockout phase for the first time in their history.
“We are massive
underdogs and not many people have dreamt that we would qualify for this
championship,” said the Englishman. “We have done it in style, so now we are
going there to show everyone in Asia that we deserve to be here.
“We earned the right and
we are going to give everything we have, every minute of every game as we have
done since the day I arrived. We are going to try and qualify from the group,
we are not going there to make up the numbers.”
India’s limited track
record in the competition means progress to the last 16 would represent a
significant success.
They begin their
challenge against Thailand on Sunday, but it is the match with the UAE on
January 10 that has Constantine most concerned.
“It’s always difficult,”
said the 56 year old of being up against the UAE. “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.
They are a good side and at home, the pressure is on them."
Constantine does believe
his side are more than capable of reaching the knockout stages of the
competition.
“I feel we can be one of
the teams that qualify and all of the games are going to be key ones," he
adds.
"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.”