mumbai city coach says club will lend all possible support to national team ahead of asian cupmumbai mumbai city football club coach des buckingham has reacted to indian national team boss igor stimacs demand for a fourweek training camp ahead of next years afc asian cup saying the isl side would continue to lend the blue tigers all the support they possibly could under the aiffs guidanceafter indias saff championship triumph earlier this month stimac had made it clear that neither his players or the coaching staff would take responsibility for the national teams results in the future if we are not given time to work together his words seemed to set him on a collision course with the all india football federation aiff as the governing bodys secretary general shaji prabhakaran had told toi that a onemonth camp was absolutely not possible due to the rigidity of the fifa international window and the challenge of persuading the isl clubs to release players beyond fifa regulations something that didnt sit well with stimacasked about the potentially thorny club versus country issue at the unveiling of mumbai citys new crest here on friday buckingham told reporters well do as we are told by the aiff whatever the league break is for the asian cup we know how important that competition is for indian football and well continue to do as i have done since weve been here for two yearswell continue to try and support the national team as well as we can because its good for indian football its good for our players who want to go and represent their country but again we cant do anymore than what we already have done and well be guided by the aiff on what that looks likebuckingham also declared his intent to see his side build on the success they have achieved over the past 15 months particularly in the afc champions league where the islanders made history by becoming the first indian club to win a match in the continental showpiece they in fact finished the group stage of the 2022 edition in second place with two wins a draw and three defeats from their six matcheswe want to build on what goa did the first year what we did last year to try and showcase indian football firstly and secondly what our players are capable of doing because we want to be a club that provides a platform for players to move outside of india as well and i see the afc champions league as a wonderful shop window for some of these players said the english tacticiana question on saudi arabias enormous financial muscle leading to an uneven playing field in the transfer market ahead of the 202324 champions league group stage draw next month drew a wry chuckle from buckingham who said we work to the best that we can thats all we can do we went and played against arguably three teams that were stronger and had