India edged Mauritius 2-1 in the first match of the Hero Tri-Nation Series held at the Mumbai Football Arena. Speaking to the press after the game on Saturday were India’s head coach Stephen Constantine and attacker Halicharan Narzary.Constantine labelled the victory as ‘okay’ and not something to be overtly happy about. He also admitted that he expected Mauritius to give them stiff competition.“I said in the press conference before that I have seen Mauritius play. I knew they were going to play well. They passed the ball very well. We didn’t do what we normally do. We gave them too much space and a little too much respect. We conceded the goal and they deserved that. We were a little fortunate to get the equaliser and in the second half we made a few changes. The boys worked very hard and improved, and I think we dominated the second half,” he said.Despite the end result, the head coach seemed a tad disappointed with his team’s first half effort.“I didn’t like the way we played the first half,” he further elaborated. “I don’t like the way we gave the other team a head start. We’re not the kind of team that can afford to give the other team a one-goal lead. On other days, we could have been punished. At half-time, I told the boys that they needed to buck up, which they did, so credit to them. They worked their socks off in the second half and I think overall, we deserved to win.”Halicharan Narzary had a busy day on the field, and while he too agreed that they had a poor first half, the second according to him was a turnaround.“We didn’t play that well in the first half. We went into the dressing room at half-time and as the coach said, we pushed in the second half as much as we could, and played as a unit,” he remarked.Substitute and debutant Manvir Singh caught everyone’s attention, and Constantine pointed out that the scouting system has helped in his revelation and would hopefully do more of the same in the future.“These are the games where you want to give the young boys an opportunity, where there is least amount of pressure. We picked him up from trials a few months ago, and so now you wonder how many more Manvirs are out there. This is why we started the scouting network and as long as I am there, we will continue to look for players. I think he did okay.”He was also pleased with Balwant Singh, the scorer of the winning goal. “Balwant for me was superb today. He absolutely ran himself to the ground and I am really happy that he got his first international goal,” he averred.An eighth consecutive international win is a record for India, but Constantine was quick to point out that records mean little if it did not qualify them for their next goals. “Eight wins on the trot mean nothing if we don’t qualify for the Asian Cup. I am very proud to have made this little bit of history, but if we don’t qualify, it doesn’t matter whether we have nine or 10 or 11 or 12 wins in a row. Records are there; they are nice, but I don’t give them too much thought. Of course, it’s important to win to continue the momentum, but we are a thousand per cent focused on Macau,” he went on to say.Speaking about the other goal-scorer Robin Singh, he revealed that the 27-year-old has a specific role, and with him it is not just about scoring.“I don’t care whether Robin scores or not,” said Constantine. “I care that he does the work. He is a particular type of player and when he doesn’t do the work, he cannot be the player he can be. I am very pleased he got a goal after a long time. But Robin’s not the player who will score 15-20 goals a season. That’s not his style of play. He’s a punishing player. That wear and tear he inflicts on a defender for 45 minutes or 90 minutes will allow other people to score. So, it’s not about Robin Singh scoring. But he took his goal well today, and I am pleased he scored.”The coach also praised the fans for their support throughout. “The fans were outstanding as I expected. Whether they are 100 or 1000 in number, they make more noise than 15,000 people. I am very happy that they are going to go out tonight and have a party and we appreciate their support.”He was also very happy with Sandesh Jhingan, who captained the side for the first time.“Sandesh for me is a player who could and should be playing in a bigger league. The captain has to reflect the character and determination of the coach. Sandesh is a fighter just like me. He leads by example and I think when Sunil [Chhetri] is not there, we have at least one more player who could be captain,” he signed off.
