Mumbai: Chief football coach Stephen Constantine doesn’t want to dwell on the past and said India’s nine-match winning streak will count for nothing if they fail to qualify for the Asian Cup.
India registered their ninth win on the trot when they trounced Mauritius in the tri-nation series opener 2-1, courtesy strikes by forwards Robin Singh and Balwant Singh on either sides of the break.
“It (nine wins on the trot) makes nothing if we don’t qualify for the Asian Cup, that’s what it means. I am proud to have made this little bit of history but if I don’t qualify for the Asian Cup, what’s the use of nine wins in a row, or 10 or 11 or 12,” he told reporters here last night.
“Records are there and they are nice. It is important to win, we want to win to continue to win, but our focus is 1000 per cent on Macau. We need to get something in that game (against Macau), bring home and finish it (qualify),” he quipped ahead of the game September 5.
Constantine said his team was more dominant in the second half after conceding the first goal in the 15th minute. “Ok, not happy, happy but, I am ok. I have seen Mauritius, I knew they were going to play like this and they perhaps could have played a little bit better.
“We didn’t do what we normally do, gave them too much respect. We conceded the goal which they deserved, we were fortunate to get the equaliser, we made few change in the second half and we dominated it,” he added.
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