Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 15 : The Indian senior men's team will be back in action on home soil after nine months, in the Tri-Nation Football Tournament from March 22, 2023, and head coach Igor Stimac has asserted that his side will do everything to win it.
Team India will train in Kolkata in a five-day camp, before travelling to Imphal, where they will play the Tri-Nation International Football Tournament, at the Khuman Lampak Stadium from March 22 to 28, with Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic being the two opponents.
Imphal will welcome the Blue Tigers (106 in FIFA Rankings) for the first time, and the tournament will also feature Myanmar (159 in FIFA Rankings) and the Kyrgyz Republic (94 in FIFA Rankings). A week before the first game, the-aiff.com caught up with Stimac in the National camp in Kolkata.
Stimac spoke at length about his expectations from the tournament, analysis of the opponents, his four-year journey as India coach, the all-important preparations for the AFC Asian Cup 2023, and much more.
"From our part, we're going to do everything, and use the time given to us properly and wisely to represent this beautiful country at the upcoming Asian Cup. Let's dream together. I hope we're going to do well. I can guarantee one thing for sure - we're going to give everything we have on the pitch, wherever we go and whoever we play against," Stimac said in an official statement released by AIFF.
Talking about his expectations and targets from the Tri-Nation International Football Tournament, Stimac said, "Winning it. We are the hosts, and we're going to do absolutely everything to win the tournament. Obviously, it's not going to be easy because we've got a lot of players who will be involved in the ISL Final, who will be physically and mentally exhausted. Half of them will be in a worse position because they will be defeated in the final. And my job is to regenerate them, help them bounce back and find the strength and ability to play these two games and represent India in a good way."
Provisional squad: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Phurba Lachenpa Tempa, Amrinder Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Roshan Singh, Anwar Ali, Akash Mishra, Chinglensana Konsham, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Singh, Suresh Wangjam, Rohit Kumar, rudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Yasir Mohammad, Ritwik Das, Jeakson Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Glan Martins, Manvir Singh, Sunil Chhetri and Sivasakthi Narayanan.
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