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‘Puerto Rico clash a building block for Asian Cup qualifiers’
MUMBAI: Defender Sandesh Jhingan opines that India’s international friendly against Puerto Rico will be a vital cog in the team’s preparation for the second round
MUMBAI: Defender Sandesh Jhingan opines that India’s international friendly against Puerto Rico will be a vital cog in the team’s preparation for the second round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup football qualifiers.
“We’ve known about the match for some time. We’ve been preparing hard for it. It is an important game for us and it will be a good contest,” Sandesh told the media on Monday prior to the national football team’s training session at the Andheri Sports Complex, the same venue that will host the friendly against Puerto Rico.
“We hope to improve with whatever we learn from this game because it will be part of the building block for the Asian Cup qualifiers which kick-off next year.
“We hope to learn from this game — from higher-ranked opponents — and put on a good show as well,” Jhingan said when asked about the challenge of facing Puerto Rico.
India awaits the draw which will decide its opponent for the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers. The draw for which will be conducted after the second stage of the play-off round, which will be completed on October 11.
The Blue Tigers reached the third round by beating Laos in the first stage of the play-off round with an aggregate score of 7-1 over two matches; a 1-0 away win on June 2, followed by a 6-1 home win on June 7.
Between the two-legged tie with Laos and the match against Puerto Rico on September 3, India played a friendly against Bhutan on August 13. And Jhingan feels India’s qualification chances improve with every match the team plays.
“Obviously every game helps you. Whether it is Bhutan or Iran, each has its own significance. The entire squad has been improving with every training session and every match,” he said.
The third round of the qualifiers will commence from March 2017 until March 2018. India will be one of 24 teams contesting in the third round of qualification with 12 teams progressing to the final tournament which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates in 2019.