Nepal are a troublesome workforce however we wish to begin season with a win: Sunil Chhetri

The new season will kick off with neighbours and footballing rivals Nepal and India assembly at Dasharath Stadium, Kathmandu for 2 back-to-back worldwide friendlies on Thursday and Sunday.
Rain adopted the Sunil Chhetri-led Indian workforce after they reached Kathmandu on Monday from New Delhi after a two-week preparatory camp in Kolkata.
The two sides will likely be dealing with one another after a niche of six years. The final time they met was in 2015 in Kathmandu within the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier play-offs. Only Sunil Chhetri, Pritam Kotal and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu are nonetheless within the present squad.
India and Nepal have met a minimum of 19 instances with the guests successful 13 instances and hosts successful twice whereas the remainder had been attracts.
“Firstly, it (camp) helped us to get back into shape and we gained a lot of technical insights,” mentioned Pronay Halder, the defensive midfielder. “The training sessions were gaining more info and the gym sessions surely helped us gain more strength.”
Striker Rahim Ali and defender Seriton Fernandes are the brand new faces within the 25-member workforce. As at all times, Chhetri w/sick lead the assault with Manvir Singh and Farukh Choudhary whereas Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is anticipated to begin in objective.
For the primary time, Indians will miss defender Sandesh Jhingan who moved to Croatian top-tier aspect Prva HNL two weeks in the past however suffered an harm and is but to renew coaching. Others who’ve been axed from the workforce embody Ashique Kuruniyan, Udanta Singh and Rowllin Borges.
“The two international friendlies will help us prepare for the forthcoming SAFF Championship in the Maldives next month…,” nationwide head coach Igor Stimac instructed the-aiff.com. “We have analysed Nepal as an opponent and the kind of progress they made in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. They have put on display that they can play quality football and can defend as a team. My colleague has done a good job and there are a lot of young players in the squad.”
It has been raining for the previous week within the Himalayan nation. “I hope that we don’t suffer heavy rains during the matches so that we can play some exciting football,” Stimac added.
About the gamers from ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC who missed the camp, the coach mentioned, “They have been playing AFC Cup matches for their clubs and are in good physical condition”.
Chhetri whereas thanking hosts All Nepal Football Association and the Government of Nepal for the invitation mentioned, “… the opportunity to play international football is soothing for us. Nepal are a tough opponent but we want to start the season with a win,” mentioned Sunil whose mom is from Nepal.
Abdullah Almutairi, nationwide coach of Nepal, mentioned he has been engaged on “changing the mentality of his players.”
“I want to make the players proud rather than being happy. We have been training for the last two months and there are a lot of youngsters in the squad. Our target is to win the SAFF Championship in the Maldives, and eventually qualify for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 and we don’t care about FIFA Rankings,” mentioned the Kuwaiti who additionally coached Kyrgyzstan U-16 workforce aside from golf equipment in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The kick-off on Thursday (September 2) is from 5.15 pm (IST) and the match will likely be telecast stay on the Indian Football workforce’s official Facebook web page.