Marquez lashes out at the team for its poor performance

National team coach Marquez expresses disappointment over India's draw against Bangladesh in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

The head coach of the national senior men’s football team Manolo Marquez expressed his disapproval at the way India capitulated against the visiting Bangladesh side before escaping with a goalless draw in the opening match of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers here on Tuesday.

“If you ask me, this is the most difficult press conference in my career because I don’t want to say all the things that are in my head at this moment. I am very angry and disappointed,” a visibly upset Marquez vented.

“As a team we need to always improve, even when we are playing good football. A team needs to grow in all the areas, in defence, in attack, in transitions and in set-pieces. We played a bad game, that’s all,” the coach said after the match.

“We got one point. Maybe that was the best thing about our game,” he added ironically.

With each team in the four-team Group C league playing six matches in a ‘home and away’ format, Marquez felt that the setback at home would make it more difficult for India to gain the top spot in the final standings and secure the Asian Cup berth.

“There were some very important players who missed the match because of injury. But that cannot be an excuse. We will now have to start again in the second round and produce some good performances that will get us the necessary points,” Marquez said while looking ahead to India’s next fixture, which comes up on June 10 against Hong Kong at the latter’s home.