Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac lamented a lack of spark in the final attacking third as the Blue Tigers were held to a 0-0 draw by Afghanistan in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Abha, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

The match was played out with neither team creating a host of chances but the Blue Tigers did have the more clear-cut openings with Subhasish Bose's header from the corner late in the game being the best of the lot.

Stimac began the post-match press conference by attributing the goalless draw to the long-standing issue of the national team lacking a cutting edge in front of the goal.

"Yeah, the match was interesting. But I'm disappointed with the result at the end because we created 3-4 really good chances and we couldn't score which is obvious. The problem has been following us for many many years. A well known problems in our football," he said during the post-match press conference.

The 56-year-old's frustration was evident as he lamented the team's inability to be sharp in the final third. He said, "We tried all the players available, which we had in the front line but it didn't work today. Few things we need to improve obviously because simple things we complicated today in the offensive plan, and I'm not happy about that."

After the match, Stimac acknowledged that despite the lacklustre draw, there was one positive takeaway - the Indian defenders' balanced performance on the field.

"The defenders did well and didn't give away anything, I would say, but we need to be better in passing, better in creating chances, and absolutely much better in attacking from the box when the crosses are coming," he affirmed.

We will try our best to win at our home: Jeakson Singh 

During the post-match press conference, head coach Igor Stimac was accompanied by Jeakson Singh.

The 22-year-old defensive midfielder recently rejoined the national squad after recovering from a long-term injury he sustained while playing for the Kerala Blasters FC in the 2023-24 India Super League (ISL) match against Mumbai City FC back in October. Jeakson Singh shared his thoughts on the game and his perspective on the reverse fixture against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to be played at home.

"Overall good performance, but disappointed with the result. Now the focus is on the next match at home, we will try our best to win at our home," Singh stated, as the post-match press conference came to a close.

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