Youngsters were no better than seniors: Jose Brasa

New Delhi: Disappointment writ large over his face after India’s eighth place finish in World Cup, coach Jose Brasa today said he hardly had any choice in selecting players since juniors were no better than seniors.

India today lost 2-4 to Argentina in a classification match to finish eighth.

Brasa was unhappy with the performance of senior players particularly Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur.

Brasa said it was not a good idea to field youngsters in a tournament like World Cup.

“We tried out some junior players before the World Cup but found they were no better than the veterans. We decided to field the veterans as there would be pressure in the World Cup which the junior players would have been difficult to handle.

“World Cup is not the ideal stage to test the younger players. We tried youngsters in Canada. These players are the best we have today and we may try the junior players in future,” he said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with Prabhjot’s performance in World Cup, Brasa said, “I am not disappointed but sad with Prabhjot’s performance. I would have liked Prabhjot scoring goals but he did not. His main role was to score but he is not a success in this tournament. He started well against Pakistan but could not contribute much later on.”

Brasa said the main reasons for his side’s disappointing performance was due to poor defence and failure to create chances once inside the opposition striking circle.