Kathmandu: Having finished the Asian Football Cup U-16 Qualifiers 2018 campaign on a positive note Bibiano Fernandes, head coach of the Indian team, hailed the players and said the match against defending champions Iraq displayed the boys’ temperament.
“Drawing against defending champions Iraq shows our boys’ prowess and their temperament while contesting at the bigger stages, I would like to thank AIFF for arranging the exposure trips to Egypt and Qatar, which have helped us immensely gauging our abilities and planning our strategies for the next matches,” Bibiano said on the way back home from here, Monday.
The U-16 team who are now unbeaten in 12 matches (including practice matches and official matches) are in a favourable position to qualify for the AFC U-16 Championships 2018 by finishing one of the five best second-placed teams across the continent. They will know their position only September 29 when other U-16 Qualifiers across other venues in Asia finish.
India finished their unbeaten campaign with five points from three matches, having drawn against hosts Nepal and defending champions Iraq and beating Palestine 3-0.
“While congratulating the boys, we must not forget the AIFF’s inputs to achieve this feat. As I’m being informed, finishing AFC U-16 Qualifiers unbeaten hasn’t been very common to us but we’ve done it this time,” Fernandes pointed out.
“It rightly reflects how we’re improving and I must say that we’re actually reaping the benefits of the years of rigorous youth development programme implemented by the AIFF,” the coach added.
indo-asian news service