India will hope to pick up their first win of 2024 when they host Afghanistan in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint-qualifiers Round 2 clash at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on March 26. The Blue Tigers were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw in the reverse fixture and will aim to finally get one over the Lions of Khorasan on home turf. Head coach Igor Stimac and captain Sunil Chhetri addressed the media on Monday ahead of the game.
Despite the disappointing result in Saudi Arabia, Igor Stimac is hopeful that his side can get the win in the upcoming clash to make things easier before the next two qualifiers in June. Ahead of the game, he explained, “We were disappointed with the result against Afghanistan because we started off well, but realistically it was difficult to expect the players to shine with a few days of work and so much travel. But, we need to try to make things right here. How good it’ll work we’ll see, but we’ll do our best definitely.
“We are in a good position holding the second spot in the group which will take us to the third round of the qualifiers and tomorrow’s result will not change that. The final result will come against Kuwait in the game that’ll be played in Kolkata.
“The boys who will come out tomorrow will do their best and I hope we get a huge crowd here in Guwahati. I remember playing against Oman here and the Afghanistan team that played against us were way better than the one that lost to Qatar and Kuwait. They had a lengthy training session and that helped their performance,” he added.
“Ranking means nothing. If you remember how well we handled Australia for 60 minutes before one silly mistake allowed them to take the lead. We are working, we are focused on tomorrow’s game and we’ll try to do our best. The draw is the same as a loss for us, a draw and loss will mean we need to defeat Kuwait here in June. If we win, then a draw against Kuwait will be enough. So we’ll try to do our best to make it easier for us in June. But, I promised already that we’ll take India to the third round of qualifiers. The team is going to fight against Kuwait and Qatar in June and tomorrow we’ll do everything to win,” he further quipped.
Igor Stimac also made a bold claim about potentially resigning from his role as India’s head coach if his team are unable to qualify for the third round of the World Cup Qualifiers. He explained, “There was a time when my situation with the AIFF was that I would be extending my contract after the Asian Cup, but I didn’t want that situation. I wanted an immediate meeting with the AIFF officials knowing very well what was going to happen. I didn’t want to put myself in such a position after the Asian Cup, because being away and that we wouldn’t get enough time to prepare for the cup, I was ready to accept suffering, defeats and abuse to get to June and prove everyone once again where we’d go in the next phase of our work.
“My contract runs until 2026, so whoever wants to abuse me or the players, if they feel better about that, then I can’t help them. We know very well where we’ll go and how we will get there. If it takes suffering tomorrow also, we’ll accept it. At the end of every suffering comes a light out of the tunnel that will bring happiness. I know that we are learning from each defeats, each bad or good performances. We are a team which is in a creating phase, a team that is seeing some players playing their last days and the new boys entering the team. We have a core base of 15-16 players and there are 10 positions that will be changing based on performances. As I told the media and the fans from my very first day – if we are not all together in this, then we are not helping each other.
“Once again, I’m asking for unity, understanding and patience. We enter the second phase of our work, I said that never mind the contract – if I don’t take India to the third round of the World Cup Qualifiers – then I will leave – with my pride, with honour and everything that was done in my five years. If we qualify and there is plenty of work to be done here – 10 more games to enjoy and five at home – then you can understand what kind of excitement that brings to us,” he also detailed.
