“Everyone was expecting three wins so it’s not spectacular, but we need to be modest. What is spectacular here is the performance, the way we did it,” said Stimac, whose side defeated Cambodia and Afghanistan prior to the win over Hong Kong. 
 
“The way the boys were aggressive when it was needed, the way they were patient when it was needed, the way they were counterattacking when it was needed and the way they were doing middle press and high press when it was needed. That was impressive. And they repeated it every game. They never came down, they were just going up with quality.”

The win ensures India will appear at consecutive AFC Asian Cup Finals for the first time in the country’s history after qualifying for the 2019 edition in the United Arab Emirates. India had previously appeared at the continental championship in 1964, 1984 and 2011.
 
“I feel good and happy, but not for myself,” said Stimac. “I feel good and happy for our players, I feel good and happy for the people who were supporting us all the way the last three years which have not been easy." 

“I’m very happy because of the supporters who came here today and in the past two games, that was really important to us and I appreciate it.
 
“I’m really happy because it’s been tremendous work in the last seven weeks and that’s what happens when you give me enough time to do it with these boys.”

Hong Kong head coach Jorn Andersen was pleased with his inexperienced team’s performance despite the margin of defeat, which came after impressive wins over Afghanistan and Cambodia earlier in the preliminaries that secured the territory’s first AFC Asian Cup spot sine 1968.
 
“We have a new and young team and we tried to press, we tried to play football, we tried to win the game and we made a great game, especially in the first half,” said the Norwegian. “But it was unlucky."

“We took two easy set-piece goals, but that is normal when you have a young team like that: they are not so steady, they are not so experienced that they can play against a team like India. 
 
“We have to learn, we have to be better. We know that. Hong Kong is playing out-of-style football, from 20 years ago. Defend and counter attack. Now we are starting to attack and creating chances and this is different. I’m very satisfied with how we played today.”