India national team head coach Stephen Constantine says he turned down a request from Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz for a friendly match between the two sides ahead of the AFC Asian Cup 2019. India will make an appearance in the Asian Cup at the United Arab Emirates after missing out on the 2015 edition […]
India national team head coach Stephen Constantine says he turned down a request from Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz for a friendly match between the two sides ahead of the AFC Asian Cup 2019.
India will make an appearance in the Asian Cup at the United Arab Emirates after missing out on the 2015 edition held in Australia.
The team has been drawn along with the UAE, Thailand and Bahrain in Group A
“We will have two weeks in Abu Dhabi to acclimatize to the conditions. As far as preparations are concerned, we are okay. But, we could have had a few more matches. We tried contacting a lot of teams and wanted to play nations who are playing in the Asian Cup,” said Constantine.
“We couldn’t manage more matches, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying,” he said, explaining how such practice matches are scheduled. “Most of the times, it is the coaches who let know if they are interested. I had a call from Iran coach Carlos Queiroz asking me if we were interested in playing them on December 30,” the Englishman said.
“But we already had scheduled on December 27 and December 30. And hence, couldn’t. But we still played strong teams like Jordan and will play the likes of Oman in the buildup to the tournament,” said the India coach.
