Kolkata: India and Kuwait played in a goalless draw in their sides’ penultimate game of the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Thursday. This was a huge dent in India’s hopes of qualifying for the third round, a feat that’s never been done before.
The 58,291 fans in attendance at the Salt Lake Stadium roared throughout and despite the draw cheered for their skipper Sunil Chhetri who played his final international game.
“Huge appreciation to the fans for their support. We need to believe in our team, we need to believe in our abilities. We are a young team and of course, we have work to do. In five days, this might be India Under-23 vs Qatar Under-23 if you look at the ages of the players so we will learn from this game,” Igor Stimac told IANS when asked to give a message to the fans.
India will be taking on Asian champions, Qatar in a few days in what will be a do-or-die game for the Blue Tigers. The reverse fixture saw India lose 3-0 on home turf.
“We are still alive, I need to do everything as a coach in the next five days to make the boys believe, to create the atmosphere, the environment of belief which can take us into the challenge that is ahead of us on 11th.
“Playing against the Asian champions, who are a very different team which is giving us hope, a small hope but it’s still there and we need to believe, we need to have trust in our abilities, in ourselves, and go and give our best shot to win the game,” added Stimac whilst speaking to reporters in the post-match conference.
India will travel to Qatar and play the table-toppers in the final game of the group stage on July 11 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in a must-win game.
–IANS