Indian football team lacked consistency and disappointed itself by going down in the SAFF Suzuki Cup final against Maldives, said chief coach Stephen Constantine.
Seven-times champions India lost 1-2 to Maldives in the final on Saturday. India comprising under-23 players except for one, had been the only unbeaten side in the tournament. They had got the better of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan enroute the final.
"We didn't play the game according to our potential and that's where the lack of experience matters. We weren't able to replicate our performance from the semifinal (against Pakistan) and that's what seems to happen when you play with younger boys," Constantine said at the post-match press conference in Dhaka on Saturday.
"They don't have the consistency and the experience to play at the same level every game but they'll learn from this. I think we didn't disappoint anyone else but ourselves. We didn't do enough to win the game but we move on from here," he added.
However, the coach said he was proud of his team performance in the last two weeks.
"The way they performed and delivered in the last 10-12 days, I'm extremely proud of them. They are the future of India football for the next six-eight years. I'm extremely proud of the boys and it's going to be a good learning experience for them."
"I don't think there was a question of underestimating Maldives at any point of time. Maldives had our full respect but we couldn't do what we were capable of doing. Maldives deserve the credit for sitting back and keeping on frustrating us in the way we play."
Coach referred to the incident, saying: "After beating Pakistan, we were not going to change the team and he would have only started at the bench. But, would he be able to add something more? Absolutely. We did miss him but I would say again, he was not going to start the game."
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