Constantine praises Zuala, stresses on need for better scouting, promises a fight for SAFF title

FIELDING ONE OF THE youngest Indian national teams in recent memory, handing debuts to two players who haven't even played top division club football yet, with one of them making history to become the youngest person to score for India... over the last three days, Stephen Constantine has done it all. And he's got some impressive on-field results to show for it too, as India have qualified for the semi-finals with two compelling victories with comfortable goal margins. 

But speaking to the press after the 4-1 win over Nepal, Constantine was eager to keep things in perspective. He praised Nepal - the first national team that he coached - for putting up a good fight, 

"I think Nepal started very well. They needed to win so it was important for them. And we were a little bit casual. We got a quick wake-up call and the boys responded very well to that... Nepal always give us a difficult game. This looked easy because of the score. But it wasn't easy, you can ask the players downstairs. If Subrata doesn't make some good saves, maybe it's two nil, maybe it's two one."

He went on to praise the efforts of Sunil Chhetri, who apart from scoring a goal was always at work, re-arranging the positioning of himself and other attackers. He played for about 70 minutes, after which he signalled to Constantine to take him off. The coach, as usual, spoke fondly of him, 

"Sunil has been very much involved in the game. His work-rate is super. He's been a great captain."

But the man of the moment was obviously Lallianzuala Chhangte, the 18 year old from Liverpoo-DSK Shivajuans academy who scored two beautiful goals that became the highlights of the evening. When the talk turned to him, Constantine stressed on the importance of scouring different parts of the country for young prodigies like him,

"Look, there are talents like Zuala all over this country. That's why I wanted to start the scouting network. Me and Lee Johnson scouted Zuala at the DSK Shivajians academy who by the way are doing a great job down there. We took 4-5 of their players to the Under-19 when I took over the Under-19s. You just have to look. And you can only look when you have people looking."

As for Zuala himself, Constantine expressed his happiness at what he has done so far but cautioned against getting carried away,

"I think the boy... he's worked very hard. That's why he's here. He did okay the other day. He did a little bit more than okay today. I'm happy for him but he still has a long way to go and has a lot to learn... he needs to keep his feet on the ground, and we will keep his feet on the ground."

The Indian defence, which had something of a cakewalk against Sri Lanka, had a tougher day at work as Nepal, who put together multiple attacks and scored an early goal to put the Blue Tigers under pressure. Constantine put that on him changing the defensive formation so frequently,

"We had 5 changes altogether... it's never easy. You need the chemistry, the understanding. In a club that can take one or two years. We're trying to do that in one or two games. But I think the boys did what was required."

Another young player, Rowlin Borges, was impressive tonight as well. He scored the first goal for India - his career first international goal - and was solid throughout. Constantine said,

"Borges for me is an all-around, box-to-box player. Strong, has a great pass on him as he demonstrated in the last game and today. And I said to you in the last game, I don't know what they're doing in the ISL, but he wasn't selected! I was at the Draft. I was telling them, pick him! Maybe they'll pick him now."

Holicharan Narzary, another youngster, was also at the thick of things through the duration of the game, and it had not escaped Constantine's attention, 

"Well he worked his socks off... I'm sure he covered more ground than most other players. I wish he got a goal, because he deserved it for the work he did. It was a good outing. Again, he's another player who has come under a lot of criticism... look, there are a lot of ingredients that go into a player that I want for this national team... and we need boys who can work. And all of them worked. Very hard."

The emphatic win and the entertaining manner in which it came made sure that no one missed some of the stars of the team who did not play in this game for various reasons. Among them was Robin Singh, the striker who scored a brace against Sri Lanka but had to be carried out on a stretcher after sustaining an injury. About him, Constantine said,

"As I said after the Sri Lanka game, it's not serious, but why risk it?... Hopefully he'll be ready for the semi-final. But if he's not ready he won't play. I tend not to put players who are injured into the game."

Now that the group stage is out of the way, India will enter the business end of the SAFF Championship, facing Maldives and Afghanistan in the final battles to win the tournament. Constantine promised a fight, 

"Madives and Afghanistan are both good sides... it'll be a hell of a game whoever we get in the semi-finals." 

The semi-final matches will take place on Thursday. But till then, one thing will keep playing in the minds of the fans: will Constantine continue with his experiments on the squad or will he play it safe to make sure India win the tournament? To find that out we'll have to wait a few days, but Constantine's answer to a question regarding whether or not he was cautious about changing the centre-back combination can be read as a sign of things to come, 

"Did I look cautious? I did it, no?"