‘Intercontinental Cup will tell us how we play in Asian Cup’
MUMBAI: India captain Sunil Chhetri said the team will use the Intercontinental Cup, where they play Chinese Taipei, Kenya and New Zealand, to get the first ‘impressions’ of what can be expected from India in the AFC Asian Cup early next year.
India have been grouped with hosts United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Thailand in Group A of the continental championship, where they will begin their campaign against Thailand on January 6.
“We had a meeting and are thinking about it one game at a time. But in our head, these are first impressions of how we are going to play in the UAE. As players, we have to give everything that we have and raise the bar for ourselves,” said Chhetri.
Chhetri is most likely to lead India against Chinese Taipei in the opening game of the four-nation tournament on Friday.
The tournament could also mark the veteran striker’s 100th appearance for India if he takes the field against Kenya in India’s second fixture here on June 4.
“It has been an absolute honour to play for my country and score that many goals. I want to continue to give it my best,” said the 33-year-old striker who has already scored 56 international goals.
Kenya and Chinese Taipei, will not boast full strength teams as revealed by their coaches, with senior players still engaged in club duties.
With teams being forced to make second string selections leading to questions being raised on the level of competition offered by the tournament, India coach Stephen Constantine said: “Look that is something we do not control. But whoever Kenya bring will be difficult, they will be quality players. New Zealand has players who are playing all across Europe, whether in league one or two, it doesn’t matter because the quality of those leagues is what we look at.”
“We prepare the same for all our opponents in terms of the physical preparation. But how we tactically match-up is another story.
“We have watched all three of these teams and analysed all three of them to break things down. We will set out our plans to try and win all the games,” added the English coach.