Stephen Constantine stresses on building team for future

Indian national football team coach Stephen Constantine, who is currently in charge of the India U-23 side, said that he is building a team for the future. He claimed that he prefers 'long-term goals' rather than looking for quick results from the forthcoming AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers which kicks-off in Doha on Wednesday.     

India are scheduled to play Syria in their opening match of the tournament on Wednesday. "I've been a person who have always preferred to build ateam for the future. I'm working with this bunch of guys so that a few may come up the ranks and land up with the senior national team in the coming days," Constantine said in the pre-tournament press conference in Doha on Tuesday.     

#QatarIndians! Our young @IndianFootball Team face SYRIA in AFC U23 Qualifier on Coming wednesday 5.00 PM at Al Sadd stadium.#BackTheBlue. pic.twitter.com/tbeInstJqk

— Saeed Fasal (@SaeedFasal) July 17, 2017

India U-23 side are coming into tournament on the back of a two-week long camp in New Delhi followed by two back-to-back international friendlies against Singapore.     

A year back, Syria had made it to the finals of the last edition of the AFC U-23 AFC Championship, but their campaign didn't go as planned.     "This tournament is of immense importance for us and I believe, as it is for every team. We'll give our best to qualify from this group," Syrian coach Hussein Afash mentioned. 

With PTI inputs