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The Indian men's national football team touched down in Bahrain on Tuesday for their two international friendlies against the host nation and Belarus. However, head coach Igor Stimac revealed that the team had faced visa issues, with seven players of the 25-man squad still stuck in Mumbai.
Amrinder Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Chinglensana Singh, Akash Mishra, Aniket Jadhav, and Bipin Singh are yet to arrive in Bahrain with just a day to go for the match. They are still waiting for the approval of their visas, which the coach said they had applied for almost two months ago.
"Seven players are still waiting for the visas which we applied for two months ago," Stimac said in the pre-match press conference. "Hopefully by noon today, they will get permission to fly and join the team until tonight. Otherwise, we cannot be optimistic that these players will be involved in the game, which is making things difficult."
These are the first international matches the Indian team will play after winning the 2021 SAFF Championship in the Maldives in October last year. The two international friendlies are part of the team’s preparations for the Final Round of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers, which will be held in Kolkata from June 8. India are in Group D along with Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia.
Igor Stimac lauds Liston Colaco for ISL performance but underlines the need to prove his quality at the international level
Meanwhile, Igor Stimac also discussed how the Indian national team would approach their game against Bahrain. Seven players have received their maiden national call-up after their performances in the 2021-22 season of the Indian Super League. The head coach said he would try to give these players the opportunity to play as they prepare for the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Asked by Sportskeeda how the gaffer plans to fill the void left by the injury to talismanic forward Sunil Chhetri, the 54-year-old said:
"Of course, we do have Manvir (Singh), Rahim Ali, Suhair (VP), Liston and other boys to replace Sunil. But most of all, the whole team needs to replace Sunil and his goals. So far, we haven't had a problem playing well and creating chances when Sunil was not there. He will join us for the upcoming Qualifiers, but now I expect these players to show up and take responsibility and forget about Sunil."
While Chhetri might be unavailable, this Indian Super League season has brought to the forefront the goal-scoring acumen of Liston Colaco. The ATK Mohun Bagan forward has scored eight goals and assisted four times this season. However, in response to a Sportskeeda query, the Croatian gaffer underlined that these international games will pose a much greater challenge to Colaco.
"I always try to remind Liston how important it is at the international level not to come too close to defenders because he will lose every ball," Stimac said. "It's much easier in the ISL than playing against higher-ranking teams at the international level. But Liston had a wonderful season. He was the best Indian goal scorer. It was exciting to watch him score fantastic goals. But you need to prove that at the international level."
