Constantine also said that not sending an Indian football team to the 2018 Asian Games to be held in Indonesia based on previous results was an “appalling decision.”(Source: File Photo)
Stephen Constantine said on Sunday that the hype surrounding the squad that Indian team played in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was unfounded. “They didn’t win any games in the world cup. I’m not quite sure what the hype was about,” he said.
The 17th edition of the tournament was held between October 6 and October 28 across six Indian cities. Being the hosts, India gained automatic qualification and were placed in Group A along with the USA, Ghana and Colombia. The team, who were led by Portuguese Luis Norton de Matos, lost all their group games and scored one goal.
“I never saw why we were making such a big deal of the U-17 team. They didn’t qualify for the World Cup, they hosted it. Then they played in the I-League (as the Indian Arrows) and came last,” said Constantine in an interaction with the media on the sidelines of a preparatory camp ahead of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.
The camp includes four players from that under-17 team – Rahul KP, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Rahim Ali and goalkeeper Prabhshukhan Singh Gill. The four players are currently in Spain with the India U-20 side playing the COTIF Cup, and will join the camp later.
Constantine also said that not sending an Indian football team to the 2018 Asian Games to be held in Indonesia based on previous results was an “appalling decision.” “The Asian Games is held every four years; we are not the team we were four or eight years ago. I think that it did us harm because felt that we had a good opportunity to qualify from the group stage.” Constantine said that the players have been robbed the chance of potentially playing more big games.
He said that the Under 23 squad’s scheduled trip to Australia remains on track despite the inability to travel to Jakarta. “It didn’t make sense that we cancel that as we were going to use the team for the SAFF,” said Constantine.