After suffering a 0-2 defeat against Jordan in a friendly game, India national football team head coach Igor Stimac stated that the squad will be working on bringing back Liston Colaco, Udanta Singh and Rahul Bheke for their next assignments.
The trio of Liston, Udanta and Rahul missed the match against Jordan at the Qatar SC Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Saturday.
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Reflecting on the match, Stimac said the boys were good for most of the game but couldn’t score and as a team they will try to sort out some issues in their defence.
“We were compact, and with good energy throughout the 90 minutes, putting Jordan under pressure in the second-half looking to score first,” the coach said.
“The boys were good throughout the game, and I feel sorry that we couldn’t score first. That would have definitely helped. There are some issues at the defending front which we faced, and need to be changed,” he added.
The match against Jordan was the third international match for the Blue Tigers in the last two months having played Bahrain and Belarus in the March FIFA International window. The Indian team will land in Kolkata on Tuesday morning where it will have its training for Asian Cup China 2023 Final Round Qualifiers.
“We proceed back to Kolkata from Doha as per our schedule, where we would be training for a week prior to playing our first match in the Qualifiers. We intend to put in our final touches (to the plans) upon the restart of our training sessions, and will be working to bring back Liston, Udanta, and Bheke back to the squad,” Stimac said.
India have been drawn alongside Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Cambodia in Group D of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Final Round Qualifiers. The leg which will kick off on June 8 will be played at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in June with India taking on Cambodia. India’s next two matches are against Afghanistan on June 11 and Hong Kong on 14.
The participating 24 teams have been divided into 6 groups with the six group winners and the best five 2nd best-placed teams earning a ticket to the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.
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