“I am disappointed because this is a result that we did not expect,” said Wim Koevermans, after watching his wards go down 0-2 in embarrassing fashion against a Pakistan Under-23 side in the second of the two-match friendly series at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Wednesday. 

“We didn’t create much and we did not get any momentum whatsoever,” he observed. While he did say that it was ‘a fair result,’ he was critical of the opposition time-wasting tactics. 

“They tried to stop the clock from the first minute of the second half. The only thing they did was kick balls away.” 

When asked what he would take away from this series, he pointed out that it was a big learning curve for him. “It’s a big learning point for the coach and a big lesson for the players. We didn’t win enough balls and we got all the simple passes wrong.” 

When asked if there was an absence of a Plan B, Koevermans turned acerbic. “If we cannot bring the ball into the opposition box, there is no use of a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D etc.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach, Mohammad Shamlan, was happy with his team’s showing in the series.

“The first match we obviously don’t have much information about how they play. So before the second match, we analysed their play and we changed our plans and I’m happy.” 

The Indian team will be leaving to a tour of China shortly as they continue to learn their best team before the Asiad, while Pakistan, who were rank outsiders coming to India, could cause an upset or two.