India to play Intercontinental cup in Bhubaneswar. Lebanon, Mongolia & Vanuatu are 3 other teams to participate in this edition. We never played Mongolia & Vanuatu at Senior level.
Only Vanatau is non-AFC nation. Though Vanuatu is weaker team in this edition, their captain plays for Central Coast Mariners in A-League.
Interesting thing, India & Lebanon would be playing Asian cup, Inter Continental cup, Kings cup & Merdeka cup
AIFF had Kenya confirmed but they withdrew..After the previous tourney getting Mongolia and Vanuatu is pretty disappointing. This is not an Intercontinental cup any more.. If we get 2 games against Lebanon including the final then this can turn out to be a good competition though.. Lebanon has players in Saudi, Sweden, Cypryus, Malaysia etc
Not sure about Kenya, but AIFF invited Rwanda from African region. Seems like after Rwanda withdrawal, AIFF tried to bring one CAFA nation. But it didn't worked out. Mongolia is only a last minute addition.
It is good to try new set of players against Vanuatu & Mongolia. Lebanon definitely a better team than India and we should play with top players against them.
Also don't forget Asian Games in September where our u23 side will take part. A lot of our NT players will form part of u23 as well. If we face good teams like Japan, S. Korea or Uzbekistan then it'll be a good exposure for those guys. I especially want to see how the likes of Akash Mishra, Apuia, Suresh, Sana etc performs against stronger opponents, that too without the guidance of seniors like Chettri, Jhingan, Sandhu, Thapa etc. It'll give us a glimpse into the future of Indian football. Also AIFF will most likely organise 2-3 friendly matches in December when NT has a 1 month long camp. Its good to see NT so busy! Though I really wanted better opponents for Intercontinental Cup!
SAFF will be in group stages this time. Are Saudi and Malaysia confirmed?
I have read somewhere AIFF sent invites to Malaysia N.T & Saudi U-23 teams. But that article didn't confirmed their participation. One of us can check with Marcus on the confirmation. I don't have an Twitter account.
Comments
Only Vanatau is non-AFC nation. Though Vanuatu is weaker team in this edition, their captain plays for Central Coast Mariners in A-League.
Interesting thing, India & Lebanon would be playing Asian cup, Inter Continental cup, Kings cup & Merdeka cup
It is good to try new set of players against Vanuatu & Mongolia. Lebanon definitely a better team than India and we should play with top players against them.
Also AIFF will most likely organise 2-3 friendly matches in December when NT has a 1 month long camp. Its good to see NT so busy! Though I really wanted better opponents for Intercontinental Cup!