Abu Dhabi: India will be a difficult team to beat in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup starting Saturday, especially after their recent draws against more fancied China and Oman, feels talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri.
“I can assure you that it won’t be an easy job for other teams to face us. We are a team who hate to lose, and we have proven it in recent times. We are working as per the plan,” Chhetri was quoted as saying by the AIFF website.
“All of us are super excited and thrilled right now. Apart from me and Gurpreet (Singh Sandhu), it’s a first-time experience for all else. Everyone is ready to grab this opportunity,” said the skipper, who is set to become the only Indian to feature in two Asian Cup tournaments.
India have been clubbed in Group A and play their first match Sunday against Thailand here, followed by games against hosts UAE (January 10) and Bahrain (January 14) respectively.
Ranked 15th in Asia, India played against three quality sides – China, Oman and Jordan – in their build-up to the Asian Cup. The Stephen Constantine-coached side drew goalless against China and Oman and lost to Jordan 1-2.
The Manipuri, who is the country’s top scorer with 65 goals, said his team was focussing solely on the match against Thailand and not looking beyond that.
“At the moment, our sole focus is on our opening fixture – the game against Thailand. We are not looking anything beyond that. Yeah, there are matches against UAE and Bahrain lined up but we will think about them only when they come.
“At the moment we know that Thailand will be a very tough opponent and we are concentrating only on them,” the captain added who is just three shy of equaling Bhaichung Bhutia’s 107 international appearances for the country.