Certain elements stopped us from taking best team to Asiad: Igor Stimac’s veiled dig at ISL organizers

India football team head coach Igor Stimac, on Sunday, lashed out at the Indian Super League (ISL) organisers FSDL and clubs for not releasing players for the Asian Games as the national federation was forced to stitch an under-strength ragtag side at the last moment after hectic parleys.

While Stimac did not take names while addressing a virtual press conference ahead of team departure but dropped enough hints about who all scuppered his and AIFF’s plan to field a strong squad, comprising players from current senior national side.

“If I knew that certain elements will stop us from going with the best possible team, I would have rather picked all the players from the I-League and request to train with them for two months and prepare with them for the Asian Games,” a fuming Stimac said during media interaction.

“It would not have been much different,” he added, making clear what he thinks about the third-string players that ISL clubs have released.

As the squad was stitched at the eleventh hour after the ISL clubs refused to release their players and organisers Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) did not entertain a request to delay the start of the league by a few days, Stimac informed that the team will play its first match on Tuesday against China without a single session.

“Players are arriving at Delhi airport at 5-6pm today. We are going to meet there and we have a flight at 10 pm to Hong Kong. We will wait (at Hong Kong airport) for another 5-6 hours for another flight which will take us to Hangzhou,” Stimac’s caustic comment wasn’t lost on anyone. Such has been Indian team’s plight that it faces a formidable Chinese team on Tuesday after reaching Games Village on Monday.

“We will reach there (Hangzhou) at