By Joseph Solomon,

AIFF Media Team

GOA: Ahead of India’s final clash against Brazil in the BRICS U-17 Football Tournament on October 13, 2016, www.the-aiff.com caught up with Head Coach of the Indian U-16 National Team Nicolai Adam and talked abreast about India’s performance against China, India’s next opponents and a lot more. EXCERPTS:

Did India deserve to lose against China?

China does not have to apologize for winning the match. We were the dominant Team and we have the quality to beat China, but we did not utilize our dominance on the pitch to scoring goals and therefore China was effective in one final counter attack and won the match.

I am extremely unhappy that some of our key player lost their composure on the pitch and it proved to be one of the reasons why we lost against China.  

India has been the dominant team throughout the Tournament.

We proved our competitiveness in the Tournament and the crowd applauses us for the way we have played in the Tournament. Although the Team is still a work in progress and not the final result, we brought Teams such as Russia and South Africa on the same page as us and that is a positive sign.

I would rather take three hard fought 0-1 defeats over three sloppy 1-0 wins, which will not help us in our progression. We are trying to build a legacy here that should not end at the FIFA World Cup U-17 next year.

Does it hurt to lose 0-1 three times?

Very much! With all respect to China, it hurts the most to lose against them, as they were not better than we were. Against Russia, the Team gave their all and I am proud of the boys.

Your thoughts on Brazil as opponents?

Brazil are a beautiful Team with really high individual quality and they have an exquisite >

With India nothing to lose, what can we expect against Brazil?

The match against Brazil is very important for us as we have to once again prove our competitiveness and show an inspired performance on the pitch one more time before we get our well-deserved rest time.