SAFF Championship 2013: Beating Nepal would be great for our self-belief – Wim Koevermans

India coach Wim Koevermans reiterated his stance of approaching every game at SAFF Championship 2013 as a final ahead of his team’s final group match against Nepal. The Dutchman, however, admitted that a win over the hosts in front of a packed Dasarath Stadium will be a big positive for his team, considering they have failed to achieve the same against Tajikistan, Myanmar and Singapore during his reign.

“I said on the first day we have to play five finals and tomorrow is the third. It is good to have such a big crowd and atmosphere and it will help the home team but we will have to fight. It will be great (to beat Nepal in front of their fans), yes. Even in Myanmar we played well but just like yesterday we didn’t take our chances and then conceded and eventually didn’t get the result,” Koevermans stated.

India’s fate is very much in their hands as a draw against Nepal will see them progress to the semi-finals. Koevermans agreed that his team are in a good position but rued the missed opportunities in the Bangladesh game.

“The good thing is that we haven’t lost yet. We have four points but could have had six. I feel we dropped two yesterday although many people will say we were lucky to get one. I believe we are creating plenty of chances and just have to start taking them. And it isn’t just Sunil (Chhetri) who is missing them, there are other players too. It’s a good sign that we are creating so many opportunities but just have to make the most of it from the next game,” he said.

The 53-year-old refused to discuss about the criticism he has been receiving back in India from fans, ex-players and coaches but once again talked about the difficulty the players are facing to recover in between matches due to the tournament schedule.

“Francis (Fernandes) has a knock on his calf and we have to wait and see whether one day is enough for him to recover. We are monitoring the fitness of every player but it is not easy to be playing every two days. Maybe another rest day would have helped. Even Nepal yesterday (against Pakistan) struggled a bit physically in the second half despite having two days’ rest. The ground also isn’t in great shape as we saw some brown patches in the Pakistan-Nepal game and it could get worse if it rains,” the Euro 1988 winner concluded.