India face an uphill task to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup third-round qualifiers and have to defeat Qatar in their final second-round clash at Doha, Qatar on Tuesday (June 11).
Igor Stimac’s Blue Tigers need to win to have a chance of finishing second in the group, but coach Igor Stimac is not under immense pressure.
Ahead of the game, Igor Stimac spoke about the excitement in his group for this clash and said: “We are very excited about the game which is awaiting us. We could see that it was a changed Qatar team against Afghanistan and many young talented players played them.
“We are very excited to see what we can do facing such young talented players and we are looking for a win. We will do everything to win the game and then we can count on qualifying for the third round.”
Speaking about the prospect of facing this tweaked team, Igor Stimac explained: “It’s different team from the one we faced and the one that became Asian Champions.
“But it’s Qatar, it’s the Qatar national team, and whoever is there are players that people in charge of Qatari football believe is a strong generation, and they are using this opportunity to provide good chances for them to mature quicker and feel what it means to lay international games for the senior team.
“This is a good step forward for Qatari football and also a good opportunity to see where we stand as we have many U-23 players in our team and it’ll be a great test for us.
“We watched the last game against Afghanistan, and it was obvious that their boys are well educated in regards to positioning, and defensive transitions, and are very comfortable in passing the ball around. It’s not going to be easy, far from that. But we do see our chance, and we’ll do everything to try to get the points,” Igor Stimac added.
