{"id":8357,"date":"2013-09-11T06:46:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T06:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/india-aim-to-carry-forward-momentu\/"},"modified":"2019-12-19T06:34:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T01:04:25","slug":"india-aim-to-carry-forward-momentu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/india-aim-to-carry-forward-momentu\/","title":{"rendered":"INDIA AIM TO ‘CARRY FORWARD THE MOMENTUM’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n<\/div>\n

Nilanjan Datta<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\u201cFocus! Don\u2019t lose it. We are still to play our Fifth Final,\u201d National Coach Wim Koevermans stated at the Dressing Room after India breezed past Maldives in the semifinal. The buildup for the Final started.<\/p>\n

It was a sight to see Sunil Chhetri sitting in the gallery against Maldives. The ice-cool Captain stays a baby off the field \u2013 tensed, passionate and patriotic. He stays available for the Final. \u201cIt easier to play. It\u2019s very hard to sit out. The tension from the stands in unbearable,\u201d he states.<\/p><\/div>\n

\nIndeed it is! Another match awaits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Indian Team practice at the Police Headquarters Ground in Kathmandu<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n\u201cAfghanistan are much superior to India, both technically and physically. What happened two years back in the 2011 Final was all because of the Referee. The whole Nation is still upset about it. We are here for revenge,\u201d Afghanistan\u2019s Assistant Coach Ali Jawad Attayee pronounced at the Official Press Conference.<\/p>\n

India had beaten Afghanistan 4-0 to lift the Cup in New Delhi in 2011.
\nHead Coach Wim Koevermans smiles. \u201cThey are free to judge us. We are in the Final and will play it on the Field,\u201d he utters. \u201cThe Final is a different game and it will be a tough match. We do have some small-sized Players in our squad but they are all Piranhas,\u201d he joked. “We are in the Final and we had told ourselves that we want to play Five Finals.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The two Captains pose with the Trophy<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nNational Captain Sunil Chhetri stressed it\u2019s not about individuals. \u201cIt\u2019s all about Teamwork. We intend to take the momentum of the Maldives match into the Final,\u201d he said. \u201cAgainst Maldives we defended well. And I reiterate, defending is never about individuals but all about teamwork,\u201d Koevermans complemented Chhetri.<\/div>\n

\n
\nSignificantly, at the morning recovery session at the Police Headquarters Ground, Mehtab Hossain had echoed the same sentiment. \u201cWe need to play a Team Game.\u201d Teamwork \u2013 that has been the sentiment of the Indian National Team in Kathmandu — \u2018Together we stay, Together we play, Together we win.\u2019<\/p>\n

With the Team playing almost every alternate day the Medical Team has taken uttermost care of all. And that the Team is heading into the Final without any injury speaks for the care form the Medical Staff and fitness levels of the Players. \u201cArata Izumi had a nasty fall against Maldives. The Medical Staff are working on him. It\u2019s too early to comment about his availability,\u201d Koevermans informed.<\/p>\n

The FIFA Rankings indicate Afghanistan are ranked at 139 while India are at 145. But midfielder Lenny Rodrigues isn\u2019t too much willing to read into FIFA Rankings. \u201cRankings are tricky. It all boils down to the specific day,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n

The manner the two rival Captains chatted at the Official Photo shoot prior to the Final may have made on believe they stay the best of pals. The two do share a great camaraderie off the field but Wednesday (September 11) will be \u201cdifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afghanistan feel they are \u201cbetter\u201d and want \u201crevenge;\u201d India on the other hand intend to \u201ccarry forward the momentum.\u201d The kick-off at the Dasrath Stadium is at IST 6.15pm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nilanjan Datta \u201cFocus! Don\u2019t lose it. We are still to play our Fifth Final,\u201d National Coach Wim Koevermans stated at the Dressing Room after India breezed past Maldives in the semifinal. The buildup for the Final started. It was a sight to see Sunil Chhetri sitting in the gallery against Maldives. The ice-cool Captain stays a baby off the field \u2013 tensed, passionate and patriotic. He stays available for the Final. \u201cIt easier to play. It\u2019s very hard to sit out. The tension from the stands in unbearable,\u201d he states. Indeed it is! Another match awaits. The Indian Team practice <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,169,166],"class_list":["post-8357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-update","tag-aiff","tag-football","tag-sports","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59858,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8357\/revisions\/59858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}