SAFF Championship 2013: We don’t always play well with two strikers – Wim Koevermans

Indian football coach Wim Koevermans.

India have lacked penetration in the final third with the 4-4-1-1 formation at the SAFF Championship but ahead of their semi-final against Maldives, Wim Koevermans stated that playing two forwards won’t guarantee results.

“I don’t think we always play well with two upfront. Sometimes it is necessary to change things during the game and we do that according to the situation. We will plan whatever is right for this game,” Koevermans stated.

Koevermans was reminded of the statistic that Maldives scored 15 goals more than India in the group stage but the Dutchman put that down to India being in a tougher group.

“Yes they scored so many goals but were they in the group of death? No. We were in a much tougher group while the opposition for Maldives was not that strong,” he said.

The Euro 1988 winner had been pointing out the fixture congestion during the group stage but with three days of preparation before the semi-final, Koevermans admitted that it would help his side especially considering that the semi could go beyond 90 minutes.

“Thankfully we have had more time to recover and prepare for this game so hopefully it will help us remain focused for 90 minutes and beyond,” Koevermans stated.

The India coach was sarcastic when asked about Ali Ashfaq as he said that he was unsure whether the Maldives skipper would play as he didn’t feature in the last group game against Afghanistan. Koevermans called for a team performance and once again refused to talk about the past.

“I might have grey hair but I don’t leave in the past. We know their players from the Nehru Cup but what happened in that tournament and in previous competitions don’t matter now. Even the group stage is history now.

“I said we have to play five finals to win this tournament and the semi-final will be the fourth. We have to defend well and play well as a team,” the 53-year-old concluded.