![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Stephen-Constantine-team.jpg\")
DOHA: Indian National Team Coach Stephen Constantine, presently in charge of the India U-23 Team prefers the ‘long-term goal’ rather churn out quick results from the forthcoming AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers which kicks-off in Doha on Wednesday (July 19, 2017) when India play Syria in their opener. The match between India and Syria kicks-off at July 19, 2017, 07:30 PM IST.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been a person who have always preferred to build a ‘team 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,\u201d Stephen stated in the pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
India U-23 headed into the Championship on the back of a two-week long Camp in New Delhi followed by two back-to-back International Friendlies against Singapore in Singapore.<\/p>\n
A year back, Syria who had made it to the finals of the last edition of the AFC U-23 AFC Championship Qatar 2016. But while their campaign didn\u2019t go turn out to be as planned, they look forward to bettering their record at the same venue.<\/p>\n
“This tournament is of immense importance for us and I believe, as it is for every team here. We’ll give our best to qualify from this group,\u201d Syrian coach Hussein Afash mentioned.<\/p>\n
While Hussain Afash was asked whether the football acumen of Stephen Constantine who has been the vital cog behind India’s recent meteoric rise would be a concern for him, the Syrian coach expressed that \u2018team for the future’ is the one to look out for.<\/p>\n
“We’re all here for the same reason. We have to build the team for the future who’ll eventually feature in the senior team,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, host Qatar start the campaign as the favourites. Head Coach Felix Sanchez sounded pretty confident and focused. <\/p>\n
“The boys have performed well last edition but this is a new tournament and we’ve to start from the scratch. It\u2019s time for us to execute our plans on the pitch,\u201d Sanchez stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DOHA: Indian National Team Coach Stephen Constantine, presently in charge of the India U-23 Team prefers the ‘long-term goal’ rather churn out quick results from the forthcoming AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers which kicks-off in Doha on Wednesday (July 19, 2017) when India play Syria in their opener. The match between India and Syria kicks-off at July 19, 2017, 07:30 PM IST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football-football"],"yoast_head":"\n