By Shoubhik Mukhopadhyay,
AIFF Media Team

DOHA: Plaudits are still flowing in for the gutsy performance put in by the India U-23team against favourites Qatar in the second match of the AFC U23 Qualifiers yesterday (July 21, 2017). 

Despite going down by a solitary second-half goal, Indians have drawn huge accolades from none other than the opponent coach, Felix Sanchez who termed the win as a 'hard-earned one.'

"I expected it to be a difficult outing for my team and it actually was. I am happy with the result and it's nothing less than a hard-earned win", Felix went on saying in the post-match press conference.

Meanwhile,  Stephen Constantine lavished huge praise for the 'strong determination' shown by the boys.

Stephen didn't hold himself back from congratulating Qatar for the 'fortunate' win during the post-match press-conference.

"Congratulations to the Qatar team for the win. They must consider themselves quite fortunate because I think, we had more possession than them."

He maintained, "I am really proud of my boys, some of whom have played the International Football for the first time today. At least, they deserved not to lose this game but again we lost to another silly mistake."

He rued the opportunity when Manvir's left footer rebounded off the crossbar in the 80th minute of the match.

"Another day, it might have hit the crossbar and would go in resulting in a point from this game, but unfortunately, this didn't happen tonight. They have shown fantastic determination tonight", he added.

Qatar coach Felix had no other option than admitting that Indian outfit almost got under their skin towards the end.

"If you consider the last 20 minutes or so, they were the better team perhaps. Thankfully, we were able to hold our nerves to churn out a positive result until the final whistle", Felix concluded.