LATVIA – INDIA

Group B

January 12th, 2017; Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex, 350 spectators

Best players: Čudars, Stalin

Post match comments

Aleksandrs Basovs, Head coach of team Latvia:

– Everyone had a clear understanding about the tournament standings. This match became defining for us, although, of course, we need to wait for the final score of Russia – Belarus match. In my view, we had an advantage during the first half. We were going to have a rest in half-time with a comfortable 3:0 on the scoreboard, but I told my players in the locker room that India would not give up that easy and that they would start the second half with a desire to prove their strength. And that’s what we saw eventually when India scored a goal. The game became nervous. Moreover, you could see that our players got tired already and barely had energy to return in defense.

– Were you counting on a fast goal? And was there a plan to make long shots?

– We had one day to recover and we had a theoretic session. We’ve studied India very well, and we were not betting on a fast goal. As you know, goals do not happen without shots! It’s a football rule – you have to make shots. 

– It’s not habitual to see Latvia attacking. You have six forwards in your team list. Only the team of St. Petersburg can boast such a number of attacking players. Is this a peculiarity of this age?

– You need to have competition in the team. It just happened that we have six forwards here. We are watching them in action here. The best of them will get into our main squad. We are showing attacking football because we are playing for the fans. They like fast spectacular games where teams not only play defensively.

– Many specialists highlight number 10 in your quite even team. Can you tell a few words about him?

– Jānis is a strong forward, indeed. But his future depends on himself and on people surrounding him, those who work with him. It’s very important for him to understand that he’s only in the beginning of his way and that he needs to keep his head cool. I wish him to become a great player and to play for the main National team.

Nicolai Adam, Head coach of team India:

– First of all, I’d like to compliment Latvia. I played against them as a coach of Azerbaijan. They have become much better since. They began playing football, not only defending. Let me especially mark Latvian number 10. I think, this player could achieve a lot in Germany. As for our team, I can say I am happy with the entire team today with an exception of one player – number 11. I had to substitute him. You could see our desire to play, especially in the second half. Participation in this tournament is a wonderful chance to gain experience for our players. I think this is the first time in my career when I meet such boys who have crazy devotion, desire to learn and a strong wish to win. As I said, India is a very large country with rich history. But still they’re behind in many aspects. And I am talking not only about football. Many people lack education. Many of my players come from poor families. But against all odds, India is playing in St. Petersburg now participating in a good tournament and is showing the play that they need.

– Do you use anything specifically Indian in your trainings, like yoga, for instance?

– In fact, yes, we do. For example, my wife is a yoga instructor. Sometimes, she travels with us and holds yoga classes for the team. But I’d like to note that we are also playing basketball. We do this not only to develop physically, but also to diversify our trainings. You can go nuts if you only practice football non-stop 24\7. As a coach, I have to introduce something new.

– You have a lot of fast players in your team, but today we paid attention to number 6…

– Boris is a very talented and important player for us. But I have bad news for him. He will not participate in the first match of the Youth World Cup. And this is caused by yellow cards that he received in the Asian Cup!!! This is not acceptable. I was asking the Technical Director of the AFC to change the outdated regulations that stop football from development in the region. I am asking him to make a change urgently, today, not tomorrow or a day after. As long as these changes are not made, I have to follow the existing rules even though I deeply disagree with them. 

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