Players who were part of ISL final to be rested for opener in Imphal
IMPHAL: It has been an exhausting league season. But the Indian footballers will be back on the field on Wednesday for their first international match of the year. And this time they will have the crowd support with them, albeit after a gap of more than two years, when they take on Myanmar in the first match of the Tri-Nation tournament at Khuman Lampak Stadium here.
"After the completion of the Asian Cup qualifiers in Kolkata on June, I specifically asked the federation (AIFF) to do everything to organise home friendly games. And this is part of that process because throughout the pandemic, for two years, India did not play a single home game," head coach Igor Stimac said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
While the tougher of the two fixtures for India - on paper - will be the latter one against the higher-ranked Kyrgyz Republic, the game on Wednesday will be more of a chance for the youngsters in the squad to put their talents and skills on display before a partisan home crowd.
Stimac said that the nine players who were part of the long and challenging ISL final clash will not take the field against Myanmar, a team that is 53 rungs below the hosts in FIFA rankings. India are No. 106 and Myanmar 159. The tournament opener will also be a big opportunity for the Manipur players in the 23-man squad who will get to play in front of and impress the football-crazy supporters at home.
However, the Croatian coach made it clear that the Tri Nation competition is not being considered as the beginning of preparation for next year's AFC Asian Cup.
"We are not considering this as preparation for the Asian Cup. For the next few days, we are here to enjoy and celebrate the success of our players in ISL," he stated. "But our serious preparation starts in May, preparing for the SAFF Championships which we are going to host and the FIFA international window in June. That will be the start of the process of selection for the Asian Cup."
While Naorem Mahesh Singh and Pritam Kotal - replacing the injured Sivasakthi Narayanan and Glan Martins - reached the SAI ground earlier than the rest of the team, the likes of Bengaluru FC's Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Mohun Bagan's Manvir Singh also took part in the training.
