Soumo Ghosh

AIFF Media Team

HYDERABAD: The match against Mauritius didn't just mark the start of Manolo Márquez's era in the Indian national team, but also the return of centre-back Chinglensana Singh Konsham to the Blue Tigers playing XI after a year and a half.

The last year has been excruciating for the 27-year-old, who had to endure a lot due to the political unrest in his home state of Manipur. Coincidentally, his last appearance for India came on Manipur soil, as he lifted the Tri-Nation Series trophy in March 2023.

But tough times make tough people. His performance against Mauritius certainly impressed Márquez. The head coach was content with India's defensive display albeit chance creation in the final third remained an issue.

"We assembled here on 1st September and had a couple of training sessions. Even though we have a lot of good players in the country, we still take time to gel together and start scoring. But we tried our best. It's a process. It takes time and we'll work in training and we'll keep improving. And then eventually when it clicks, it'll be beautiful and we'll start winning more matches," said Chinglensana.

Chinglensana played under Márquez for three seasons at Hyderabad FC, so neither the stadium nor the coaching was anything new for him. However, with the national team, it's always a different story than a club. According to Chinglensana, the more training sessions the Blue Tigers get under their belt under Márquez, the better they will be together for tougher matches to come.

"Well, it definitely helps to understand his (Márquez's) system from a long time and how he wants his team to play, so that really helped. This is a new team with a lot of young boys as well. So we all have to understand the system and the style and once we adapt to that, everything will come naturally, the goals and all. So yeah, we believe in the system and we'll keep working.

"The boys want to win every game that we play for the country, be it Syria or Mauritius. Yesterday we couldn't but we are more hungry to win the next game. There are a lot of positives as well. We kept the ball, we dominated possession. Our preparation will be to understand more about the coach's system and the style and then to execute that in the games with more confidence. And as I said, once that comes then we don't have to worry about who we play against. Once we start doing the things that we do as a team, then everything will start clicking.

"I really love the fans here in Hyderabad. While I was playing here, they were really nice to us whether we were winning or losing. It was very amazing actually to see a lot of people turn out yesterday and support the national team," said the defender.

Chinglensana also spoke about his centre-back pairing with Rahul Bheke, who captained India for the first time on Tuesday night. "Me and Rahul Bheke play for the same club Bengaluru FC and train together day in day out which helps in understanding each other and like I said, we play for the nation and we all come together wanting to do our best for the country and we'll keep improving."