With less than a year to go for the AFC Asian Cup, scheduled to begin in June 2023, Indian footballers have their eyes set on utilizing the upcoming season to make their case for the final squad. With the football calendar all set to be extended to nine months from 2022-23 onwards, Ashique Kuruniyan believes it will be useful for players aiming to break into the Asian Cup squad.
“The longer season will help a lot because we need games. When you hear you have Durand Cup and Super Cup apart from Indian Super League, you get around 30 matches to play in the season which will only be beneficial for players,” said the Bengaluru FC winger.
The domestic club season starts in August with three major competitions for players to take part in. Apart from the ISL, the two major cup competitions – Durand Cup and Super Cup – also feature in the calendar from this season onwards. Meanwhile, there will be two opportunities -- in September 2022 and March 2023 in the FIFA international windows – for the national team to play friendlies in preparation for Asian Cup.
India qualified for back-to-back Asian Cups for the first time in history as they emerged group winners in the third round of qualifiers in Kolkata earlier this week. Ashique had provided the assist for Sahal Abdul Samad’s injury-time goal in the 2-1 win over Afghanistan in the second match of the group.
“It is really satisfying to top the group and qualify for the Asian Cup. Everyone in the national team setup gave it their all. The support from the fans in Kolkata made it more special, they were amazing,” said the Kerala guy.
Ashique, who made his national team debut in the 2018 Intercontinental Cup against Chinese Taipei, played all three group games in the 2019 Asian Cup as a striker. However, the 25-year-old feels featuring in the 2023 edition will be sweeter having played a significant role in the qualifying as opposed to his first tryst with Asian Cup, when he was a 21-year-old rookie.
“Last time in Asian Cup, I came into the team for a major international tournament directly without featuring in the qualifying stages. I had benefited from the efforts of all the players involved in the qualifying stages. This time, I was here to play my part to see the country through to Asian Cup in qualifying. This is a brilliant step-up for football in the country,” Ashique signed off.
