New Delhi: India coach Bob Houghton was satisfied with his team's performance against Lebanon in the opening game of the Nehru Cup on Wednesday and stated that the heavy grass on the ground made life difficult for his players.
India conceded an early goal when defender Ali Al Saad's well driven free-kick beat Subrata Pal. At the post match conference Houghton said that it was always going to be tough to find the equalizer because of the heavy grass on the ground.
"The heavy grass made it difficult for us. I thought that it would be cut before the game but it wasn't and as a result we suffered. Lebanon got an early goal and then played a very intelligent game. It's logical that a game on this kind of a ground gets decided on a set piece because the players were finding it difficult to create chances from open play."
The former China and Uzbekistan coach is happy with the effort put in by his players and feels that they probably should have got something from this game.
"I am pleased with our performance. In the last twenty minutes of the first half and for long periods of the second half we played well. It's a pity that we couldn't make the most of our territorial advantage so the boys will feel a little disappointed having not got anything from this game."
Houghton also explained his decision to bring on Sunil Chhetri after halftime in place of young Sushil Kumar Singh.
"Sunil wasn't fit enough to play for ninety minutes. He just played around seventy minutes in the Barcelona tour. That's why we started with Sushil, who played really well in the first half. Sunil is a very important player for us so we wanted to give him some gametime and also we felt that he could make a difference coming on as we were trailing. He is still not fully fit and so we have to wait and see tomorrow how his body reacts to today's action."
Houghton was also pleased with the contribution of both his wingers but admitted that they didn't get the final pass right most times.
"Both (Dias and Pereira) worked hard and tried their best but their final pass was missing but in this pitch its always difficult to get those crosses right."
The Indian coach didn't feel that Lebanon had a height advantage and also stated their wont be any major change in strategy for the remaining games.
"Their (Lebanon) height wasn't an issue today. They were a much bigger team when we played them in Beirut during the world cup qualifiers.
"This defeat will make it difficult for us to qualify for the final but we wont be making any major changes to our strategy," he concluded.
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