SAFF U-16 C'ship: India Cautiously Confident Ahead Of Semis Clash With The Maldives

Ishfaq Ahmed: Ahead of their SAFF U-16 Championship semifinal clash against the Maldives, the Indian U-16 men's team football team is quite confident of their chances following a superb performance in the event so far.

India U-16 men’s national team head coach Ishfaq Ahmed seems a lot more content with his team’s performance and believes that this team has finally begun to grasp his footballing philosophy, as they prepare for the last-four encounter.

India secured the top spot in Group A and a berth in the semifinals of the competition with two 1-0 wins over Bangladesh and Nepal. However, while the game against Bangladesh was a hard-fought affair, the Indians looked much more in control of the proceedings against Nepal. Despite a slender margin in the 1-0 win, India were quite aggressive and were denied by the woodwork four times.

“The boys have shown a lot of improvement, and I am happy to see that they have played the way we wanted to play our game,” said Ahmed. “We do need to improve our finishing, but I am very happy with the number of chances we created.

“It was important for us to score first, and we managed to keep the ball well throughout the game after that,” Ahmed was quoted as saying by aiff.com.

The Maldives, who silenced the home crowd to come back from behind and defeat a 10-man Bhutan 3-2 in their last Group B match, have also shown a lot of improvement, said Ahmed.

"The Maldives were brilliant in their second match, which really surprised me. They showed a lot of improvement from their first game, and have some quality players in their ranks,” said Ahmed. “We have to be careful against these players, as they are individuals with a lot of skills.”

While Ahmed focused on creating chances and finishing them, the India U-16 head coach also took time to appreciate how his side understood the art of defending as a unit in the last two games.

“I always believe in keeping a good defensive shape and using that as a base to fuel creativity in the attacking third. These are my personal beliefs, but the boys have really grasped the concept well,” said Ahmed.

“They have understood the concept of how to be compact when we don’t have the ball,” he said. “Full marks to our goalkeeper Suraj (Singh) as well. He was calm under pressure and made crucial saves when we needed him to. They are all ready to help each other, which is the sign of a good team.”

The Indian coach will now hope that his boys will maintain their standard of play in the crucial match against the Maldives and beyond.