Stimac aware of upcoming grind

New Delhi, November 10

Emphasising on the need to stay positive, India’s football team coach Igor Stimac says injuries to key players such as Ashique Kuruniyan and Jeakson Singh have made the task tougher ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

India are slated to play Kuwait at home in a 2026 World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup preliminary joint qualification Round 2 next week.

The Blue Tigers are also playing in the Asian Cup in January next year.

“We have entered the new phase of our work, and we know it’s going to be very hard and difficult on the boys. We know that the next few months until March will be very difficult,” Stimac said.

“We are very optimistic then that once the players, who are missing now, are back, we will become solid again and show strength on the pitch, no matter who we play against. So, the focus at this moment is how to replace those boys who were the starting XI players, such as Kuruniyan, Anwar Ali and Jeakson (currently nursing injuries). They were our strength in the latest successes we had. These boys played very good football; they were adding extra value to the whole team,” he added.

India have emerged victorious 3-2 against Kuwait on their home turf only once in a friendly match, in 2004.