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The Indian National Football Team is in the business end of the year, with the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Round 2 set to commence on November 16, 2023. The Blue Tigers have been drawn with Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan in Group A.
The teams will play each other in a round-robin home and away format, with the top two teams qualifying for Round 3. India will play hosts Kuwait on the 16th at the Jaber Al-Ahmed International Stadium in Kuwait City, and Qatar at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar on November 21, 2023.
After a blistering start to 2023 where India won a trifecta of tournaments (Tri-Nations Tournament, Intercontinental Cup, SAFF Championship), the Blue Tigers have seen a dip in results since. In the King's Cup, India went winless, losing to Iraq on penalties and then to Lebanon in the third-place play-off.
In the Merdeka Tournament, hosts Malaysia defeated India 4-2 in a hard-fought game, knocking them out of the competition. In the Asian Games, the Blue Tigers lost to Saudi Arabia after making it past the group stages.
Ahead of the crunch fixtures in the World Cup Qualifiers, head coach Igor Stimac interacted with the AIFF (All India Football Federation) Media about how he anticipates the final games of 2023 for the national team.
The Croatian manager emphasized on the difficulty of the group and the challenges that the teams will pose:
"The group is very tough and challenging because we know there will be no easy opponents, and they are the top teams. So, the group is tough at the moment, but we need to approach it game by game and prepare for it.
"As far as I'm concerned and with my experience in football, November to March will be difficult. To prepare well and to make sure that the national team gets enough time to secure the second spot in the group and qualify - that is our plan."
"Forget as soon as possible what happened in June and July against Kuwait and concentrate on new challenges" - Igor Stimac
In the SAFF Championship in July 2023, India clashed with Kuwait on two occasions. Both the games ended in a draw on the pitch. The second game was also the final of the tournament, which went into penalties.
India emerged victorious with a 5-4 scoreline, winning it in sudden death on a memorable night at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. However, Igor Stimac warns that the game on Thursday will be completely different:
"The games we played against them came after a long camp preparation. And our boys should not rely on the latest success in the quality football which we played against Kuwait because now we are in a different position. The boys are coming from a different pace of football. So, we're not gonna lie to ourselves and expect top quality football we're going to present there.
"Our focus is on the result and how to obtain the result in the opening game of the World Cup qualifiers. My advice for players will be to forget as soon as possible what happened in June and July against Kuwait and to concentrate on new challenges and new developments that might be ahead of us. And that's the best way of approaching this game."
India will look to clinch one of the eight spots given to the AFC Nations for the FIFA World Cup 2026, which will see as many as 48 teams participate for the first time. The game against Kuwait promises to set the tempo ahead of the game against Qatar, which could be even more difficult.
However, this is the first step towards the dream - the most crucial pair of games India will play ahead of the grand show in North America in 2026. Sunil Chhetri and co. will be raring to prove their mettle against Asia's best and go as further as possible.
