Igor Stimac Hints More Changes Against Belarus In 2nd International Friendly

Up against higher-ranked Belarus in their second international friendly here on Saturday, national football team head coach Igor Stimac on Friday said he would continue trying out new faces so as to keep his blueprint ready for the Asian Cup final round qualifiers in June. India almost secured a draw against Bahrain with a second-half equaliser from Rahul Bheke but only to concede an 88th minute goal to go down 1-2 in the first friendly here on Wednesday. Belarus are 10 notches above 104th ranked India.

Stimac, however, is not afraid of trying out youngsters and hinted at including Kerala Blasters' 21-year-old defender Ruivah Hormipam in the Belarus match on Saturday.

"Definitely, there will be big changes for the Belarus game, some of it coming as a result of not good enough performance from some players from the previous game, some of it coming as an opportunity for those who I count on for the future," the 54-year-old Croat said in a virtual press conference.

"We need to see what they can do at the International level. They had promising seasons in the ISL and this was a great challenge for them. So there will be the likes of Hormipam, Anwar (Ali), Roshan (Singh) on the pitch. New team is coming up, there will be fresh energy of course.

"Friendly games are the best opportunity to give players the chance to perform, and I believe if you don't take risks, you will never succeed," he added.

From the 25-member squad for the two friendlies, Stimac had given maiden call-ups to seven players -- Prabhshukhan Gill, Ruivah Hormipam, Anwar Ali, Roshan Singh, VP Suhair, Danish Farooq and Aniket Jadhav.

Out of which, Stimac tried out five players against Bahrain.

While VP Suhair and Danish Farooq were named in the starting