Friendlies Crucial To Preparations For AFC Asian Cup Final Round Qualifiers: Stimac

New Delhi: India's men's football team head coach Igor Stimac said on Tuesday that his boys were viewing the friendlies against Bahrain and Belarus later this month as extremely crucial to gauge where the side stands ahead of the AFC Asian Cup final round qualifiers in June.

The India players are currently in Pune preparing for the friendlies on March 23 and 26, respectively in Manama.

"We are happy that in such circumstances, we can get together again. We are looking ahead to the friendlies. The last two years haven't been easy, and life has been hard. But this is no time to complain, and we are looking ahead," Stimac said.

"We are playing Bahrain and Belarus, and they are better-ranked sides than us. But whatever the rankings are, you need to do it on the pitch. Bahrain will show us where we stand. We will give chances to some young players who have played well in the ISL this season to see how much we can use them for the qualifiers in June," he added. "We look to perform well in the forthcoming two matches. We need to make sure that we zero down on the best combination for the qualifiers in June," said Stimac.

Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stressed the two friendly matches present a 'great opportunity'. "This is a great opportunity against good teams. We are not in any position to take things lightly in the June qualifiers — be it Cambodia, Afghanistan or Hong Kong," he said.

Also read: Stimac Looking To Test Newcomers In Friendlies

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