Asian Games Football: India face defending champions

The India Under-23 team face an uphill task against defending champions Qatar in the 2010 Asian Games football tournament tomorrow. The India Juniors played a good opening game against Kuwait, but in the end lost 0-2 against the team from the Gulf. And now they face Qatar who are under pressure after a surprising opening round draw against minnows Singapore, which leaves Group D open for all.

India face a strong Qatar side, but the star of the Qataris is not on the field, he is rather on the bench in Frenchman Bruno Metsu. Metsu is best known for coaching Senegal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in which they beat the then defending champions France. Since then Metsu has worked in the Gulf in Qatar and the UAE with mixed success.

Our own coach Sukhvinder Singh was said to be happy with yesterday's performance only questioning the finishing of his own team. And this might lead to a change in attack with Sukhvinder considering bringing in Jagtar Singh for Jeje Lalpekhlua, who was off colour in the game against Kuwait. Otherwise Sukhvinder is set to trust the same starting line-up though taking a more defensive approach against an opponent he considers stronger then Kuwait.


Likely India Under-23 Line-up

Laxmikant Kattimani; Denzil Franco, Rowilson Rodrigues, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Robert Lalthalma; Joachim Abranches, Manish Maithani, Jewel Sheikh Raja, Jibon Singh; (Jeje Lalpekhlua or Jagtar Singh), Balwant Singh