India eye good show at SAFF Championship

The SAFF Championship will be a different ball game for India and head coach Igor Stimac. Here, India are expected to win the tournament. Against Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka, dealing with that weight of expectations will be key for the team's success. And Stimac is confident of a good show.

"We are determined to go all the way and win the tournament, to perform to the best of our ability. Our style will be the one that brings us results. We need to be ready to adapt to the situation. We are going to start the games in a determined way, putting pressure and pushing high," he said on Saturday.

"Mood in the camp is upbeat," said captain Sunil Chhetri. "There is familiarity. There are a lot of youngsters who push us, there are also some with experience. We want to go with the best foot forward."

India used to send their U-23 squads for the SAFF Championship over the past few editions but the difficulty in scheduling and lack of matches ahead of the third round of the AFC Cup 2023 qualifiers meant that Stimac has called up a strong side for the tournament to ensure game-time for his players and iron out the issues in the team.

And perhaps that would be a good move as well, considering that the teams around India have improved. The Blue Tigers have one win and a draw against Bangladesh in their last two meetings, a result mirrored in their two games against Nepal last month as well.

"The teams (like Bangladesh and Nepal) want to do something extra against us. I think they will give us a good fight and that is where we have to match them, do more than them and make sure that we don't give them an inch," said goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. "We'll take one game at a time and give 100 percent. International games don't come like they do in the league so we need to make the most of it."

His sentiment was echoed by Chhetri.

"Every team in SAFF is improving and when they play us it's a different ball game. We can't afford to be even 90 percent. Not a single game will be given easily and it will be a fight, and we have to fight. Unless we fight tooth and nail, we won't get anything. We want to make sure we deliver."

The talismanic attacker also touched on his personal motivation.

"When you are young you play for a lot of things. As you get older a lot of them diminishes. I feel I am down the hill for the national team. I played over 100 games, I don't have another 100 and I want to make the most of all the games I have left," he said.

The preparation has not been ideal. Stimac touched on the negotiations with the Indian Super League and clubs about releasing the players for international duty and there has not been a proper camp either. However, India remain favourites to win the tournament. There is pressure on Stimac too, but the Croatian remains unperturbed.

"I don't think about pressure and don't want our players to feel pressure because it limits them on the pitch. I sent the full team here because this is the last chance before 3rd round qualifiers. We will try to use the tournament to check out the team, youngsters and try to win the tournament," he said.