The Indian men’s football team, trailing Nepal in their last match, will look nothing short of a win in their second international friendly against the Himalayan nation here on Sunday.
Worse yet, the Indian football team is not at all happy with the training facilities provided by the host country. At 105, India are well above 171st-ranked Nepal in the FIFA rankings, but the Sunil Chhetri-led side did poorly in the opening match that ended in a 1-1 draw on Thursday.
In the last match, Anirudh Thapa equalized in the 60th minute, when Nepal took the lead through Anjan Bista in the 36th minute. But come tomorrow, India will have to step up their game by leaps and bounds to outshine a determined Nepal, who will be brimming with confidence after the result of the last match.
Maitree is being organized as part of preparations for next month’s SAIF Championships in Maldives. The five-team SAFF Championship will take place from October 3 to 13 at the National Stadium in Male.
Apart from India, the other participating teams are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, hosts Maldives and Nepal. India head coach Igor Stimac was not happy with the performance but expected better performances from his wards on Sunday. “The mood is positive and our boys know they can do a lot better.
Of course, we’re still low on energy levels because we’re at the end of our second week of preparation, and the legs are still heavy. But, they are expecting better performance.”
India’s custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu also feels that the team needs to raise their level on Sunday to come out on the positive side of the result.
“The last game was tough and Nepal was very organized. We had moments where we could have done better as a team, and there were moments where we got better.
“We need to make sure we have a strong mindset to go into the second game. We need to make sure that we use it in good order to prepare for the SAIF Championship.”
Thapa is fit to play on Sunday after suffering an ankle injury in the previous match. “I am fine now,” assured Thapa.
“I’ve been working on my short sprints, especially my start. It allowed me to attach the ball to my marker and even ahead of goalkeeper Kiran-bhai (Kiran Limbu),” he explains.
Thapa concluded, “We were much better in the second half than in the first match and wanted the match to continue for some more time and we could find the winner.”
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here
.