July 18, 2017 by admin

Constantine wants to build team for future

Doha, July 18
Indian national football team coach Stephen Constantine, presently in charge of the India U-23 side, prefers “long-term goals” rather than looking for quick results from the forthcoming AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers which kicks-off in Doha tomorrow.
India are scheduled to play Syria in their opening match of the tournament tomorrow.
“I’ve been a person who has always preferred to build a team for the future. I’m working with this bunch of guys so that a few may come up the ranks and land up with the senior national team in the coming days,” Constantine said in the pre-tournament press conference, here today.
India U-23 side is coming into tournament on the back of a two-week long camp in New Delhi followed by two back-to-back international friendlies against Singapore.
A year back, Syria had made it to the finals of the last edition of the AFC U-23 AFC Championship, but their campaign didn’t go as planned.
“This tournament is of immense importance for us and I believe, as it is for every team here. We’ll give our best to qualify from this group,” Syrian coach Hussein Afash mentioned.