India Coach speaks out about tight tournament
After seeing his side stutter to lucky victory against Pakistan and then narrowly avoiding defeat against Bangladesh, India Coach Wim Koevermans has criticised the South Asian Football Football Federation for cramming the Championship’s into two weeks.
He may have a point, during the group stages india play every other day, leaving little time for recovery, something that would be unheard of in any of Europe’s top leagues,where players and managers complain about playing two games in a week, let alone two days.
Speaking to Goal India Koeverman’s said : “It is a crazy schedule to play every other day. I am happy we have no injuries. We are tired but it (injuries) can happen. The risk of injuries is increasing as players don’t feel rested, and I wrote to SAFF for having bigger gap, and I think it also affects quality of the game.”
If during the semi-final, players are tired, what quality of football are we looking at? Maybe it’s a financial decision, but they must look after players.”
Should India qualify for the Semi-final then it will be played on either 8th or 9th September, with the final on the 11th, leaving the possibility that Koeverman’s side could be playing 5 games in 10 days.
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