Kolkata: India resume their quest to qualify for an unprecedented third successive Asian Cup finals in Singapore on Thursday. A barren draw followed by a defeat, the goalless and soulless campaign is in need of resuscitation. India will have to do that with little football in their legs. They have done it once but if the CAFA Nations Cup was a rehearsal, this is the real deal.
India head coach Khalid Jamil (L) with forward Vikram Partap Singh at the media conference in Singapore on Wednesday. (AIFF)
Predictably, Khalid Jamil and Vikram Partap Singh were asked whether the lack of football has affected preparations. The head coach and forward deflected them as best as they could at Wednesday’s pre-match media conference. “The CAFA Cup (in Tajikistan) was useful in that regard,” said Jamil. “The players are professionals and will have to take responsibility.” Singh said they have, doing training work at home and at national camps.
India have played four matches, all in Tajikistan, since Jamil took charge in August. Under 37-year-old interim coach Gavin Lee, who was Tsutomu Ogura’s assistant before the Japanese left citing personal reasons, Singapore have played two: a 1-2 defeat to Malaysia and a 1-1 draw against Myanmar.
But the Singapore Premier League began on August 23 and six of the eight teams have played three matches each. Seven players in Lee’s roster, including Ikhsan Fandi who scored against India in 2022, play outside the country. Fandi is on loan with Ratchaburi FC in Thai League 1 and has played in four of the club’s seven matches, as per Transfermarkt. India’s top tier league is unlikely to begin before the middle of December.
On four points, Singapore are on top of the four-team group that also has Bangladesh and Hong Kong. The 2-1 win away to Bangladesh with goals from Fandi and Song Ui-young has given them hope of a first-ever finals berth. Singapore skipper Hariss Harun acknowledged that but said the message after the win was “to not get carried away.”
Attacking midfielder Song, 31, surrendered his South Korean citizenship and became a Singapore national in 2021 having moved to the city-state in 2011 to play for Home United, now renamed Lions City Sailors from where Lee has picked seven players. Midfielder Kyoga Nakamura, who represented Japan in the under-17 World Cup in 2013, is the other naturalised player in the squad.
“India have a distinct style and have been effective with it. The kind of clarity they have comes only from good coaching,” said Lee when asked if he was expecting the visitors to deploy a deep defensive block like they did on way to a third-place finish in Tajikistan.
Whether India do that will depend on the situation but if they are to get a positive result, “we will need to be very careful,” said Jamil. India have not beaten Singapore in Singapore since a friendly in August 1973.
Sunil Chhetri, who was left out of the Tajikistan tournament, and Sandesh Jhingan, who had a cheekbone injury, are available, said Jamil. Chhetri will give India a boost, said Harun. “He is still the face of Indian football.”
