Indian football team camp for Asian Cup qualifiers to begin on April 24, to play three international friendlies

Indian football team will have a six-week national camp from April 24 before the final round of Asian Cup qualifiers, to be held in Kolkata from June 8. India will play Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia from June 8 to 14 in Group D matches to be played at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. The winners of the six groups and five best second-placed teams across groups will make it to the Asian Cup in China in 2023.

The matches of the six groups will be held in different countries. "Our next camp starts on April 24 and within two weeks we are going to isolate the players and do testings to ensure that there are no injuries," head coach Igor Stimac said during a virtual press conference ahead of the international friendly match against Bahrain here on Wednesday. "35 players will be selected and tested and then 28 players will be picked for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers.

We will have more than six weeks of preparation before the Asian Cup qualifiers." Explaining the team's preparations, he said, "After a few weeks of training, we will play friendly matches. We are playing a total of three international friendlies and there are negotiations going on (about the opponents). "The plan is to have the last international friendly in the last week of May, that is 8-10 days before the qualifiers.

These (matches) may be played either in Kolkata or Doha in Qatar, we have to decide." Talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri has been ruled out of the international friendlies against Bahrain (on Tuesday) and Belarus (on Saturday) due to an injury, and Stimac said it is the best time for the younger ones to prove themselves. "We have Manvir, Liston and Rahim as strikers in place of Sunil. But the whole team should replace him.