India coach Crespin Chhetri took a more aggressive approach, citing legendary American swimmer Michael Phelps. Chhetri said, “Phelps only talks about gold. No one remembers silver or bronze. We can’t think about anything else except becoming champions.” He admitted that India are desperate to lift the trophy on home soil to avoid ‘trolling’ from the fans, but also acknowledged that Bangladesh will also go into the match with a different mindset and greater confidence.
There is not likely to be huge crowd pressure in the final. However, Bangladesh have experience of dealing with a far more intimidating environment, having won the last two SAFF titles in Nepal in front of crowds of 20,000 to 25,000 spectators. Furthermore, having recovered from a 3-0 loss to India in the group stage and defeating Nepal 2-1 in the semi-finals, Bangladesh are entering the final mentally fresh.
However, Maria, on her part, is unaffected by the crowd factor. “We have handled huge crowds in Nepal, so the audience has no problem. Our focus is on our performance. Be it as captain or any other player, I will give my best,” she said.