Draw against higher-ranked Philippines is a good result – India coach Wim Koevermans

India is yet to win an international friendly under Wim Koevermans but the Dutchman was quite happy to get a draw against higher-ranked Philippines on Friday.

Recalling the clashes with Singapore, Palestine, Myanmar and Tajikistan, all of which ended in defeat, Koevermans reminded that his team has always shown glimpses of their potential against higher-ranked nations.

“I think even in previous matches against higher-ranked teams, we had shown that we can compete. Today we produced another good performance against a very good side like the Philippines. The challenge is to play well and maintain the intensity for 90 minutes against such teams and that will only happen if we regularly play such friendlies. We could have won of course because we had a great chance in stoppage time but a draw is a good result too,” Koevermans stated at the post-match press conference.

Looking back to the match, Koevermans lamented the fact that his side conceded almost immediately after scoring and admitted that his side will have to avoid that in future.

“Like often in football it was a game of two contrasting halves. I was very happy with our first half display but in the second half we gave away the ball too many times and couldn’t trouble them enough. But we defended very well throughout. We scored a very well-worked goal but then conceded very quickly and that is something we have to work on if we want to improve at this level,” the Euro 1988 winner said.

Koevermans was also full of praise for debutant Aibor Khongjee, who made a solid start to his international career, and goalkeeper Karanjit Singh, who produced a couple of vital saves in the second half.

“Aibor did very well today on his debut. He looked good in central defence and made a very good block in the first half. Karanjit was also excellent and made a few important saves,” he concluded.