KOLKATA: "It has not been a pleasant morning here today," were the words with which India head coach Igor Stimac began his virtual media interaction from Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
The hosts have been undergoing a camp in the Odisha capital in the build-up to the Intercontinental Cup that the city will be hosting in less than a week's time.
But being based just 206 km away from the site of the devastating train accident in Balasore on Friday, the Indian national team was as affected by the terrible mishap that killed close to 300 people and left more than 900 injured.
"Let me just express our condolences to all the families that lost their loved ones and we hope and pray that those who were injured will find the strength to get out of this tragedy," Stimac said.
Meanwhile, the team has a busy schedule leading up to the Asian Cup in January next year kicking off with the June 9-18 tournament and followed by SAFF Championship in Bengaluru starting June 22, King's Cup in Thailand in September, October's Merdeka Cup in Malaysia, followed by the World Cup qualifiers.
But the Croatian believes that they would have much to do with the team's preparations for the Asian Cup.
"It will depend on the December preparations and how much time we are going to get for it then. This is a sport where things are changing on a daily basis with injuries, the forms of players and who will be ready as the top-performing player then has nothing to do with how they are now," said the coach.
"We do have the core base of players and what we are expecting from the players is to maintain the fitness levels. It will not be easy as they have a long season ahead of them now which has not been the case earlier."
Stimac had announced a 41-member squad on May 4, which has been trimmed to 26, after five players were ruled out with injury and two players requested exclusion, citing personal reasons. Keeping in mind the heat and humidity, Stimac is also ready to rotate the players for the back-to-back tournaments at home.
This will thus be an opportunity for the youngsters in the squad to impress the coach ahead of the all-important Asian Cup.
"We are ready to strengthen each position in the team and competition for each position is most welcome. Right now, the full-back positions are wide open because we need more physical and mental strength in those positions and more understanding in how to defend," added the coach during the virtual interaction.
India will open their Intercontinental Cup campaign against Mongolia on June 9 and then play Vanuatu and Lebanon on June 12 and 15, respectively.
The 55-year-old reminded everybody of India's successful last outing in the Tri-nation Tournament in Manipur and asked the people of Odisha to show them the same love and support that the northeastern football lovers had shown the Indian team.
