India to face Kuwait in another friendly

Today the eye's of the sporting world will be glued towards Abu Dhabi to see who wins the Formula 1 championship at the Yas Marina Circuit, but only a few kilometres away at the Al-Wahda Stadium in Abu Dhabi central India will take on Kuwait in an international football friendly.

Normally the events wouldn't have clashed as Formula 1 races start a 14.00 local time, but due to the Yas Marina Circuit having floodlights the race starts at 17.00 local time, which is 14.00 CET and prime time for Formula 1 on a Sunday afternoon. With the India vs Kuwait match set to kick-off at 18.00 local (19.30 IST) it does clash with Formula 1, maybe the kick-off could have been a little later and enable more fans to witness the game.

Coming to talk about the match. India play their second match during their preparations in Dubai. After their 0-2 loss against defending Asian champions Iraq in Sharjah they now face their neighbours Kuwait, who are known to be a tricky opponent in the Gulf. Hopefully India will have learned their lessons from the Iraq match as I had pointed out a couple of days back and hopefully Kuwait will be an easier opponent then the tough Iraqis.

With Baichung Bhutia, Samir Naik, N.P. Pradeep, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury and Arindam Bhattacharya still out injured plus Sunil Chhetri not fully fit yet, Bob Houghton is likely to send the same first eleven onto the field. Bob has Mahesh Gawli and Mohammed Rafi back from injury, who both played a half against Iraq and they are likely to see more match action today. The key thing for India is to keep their level of mistakes low, especially Subrata Pal in goal; better Indian presence in central midfield; try to play more over the flanks by using the strengths of Steven Dias and Anthony Pereira on the wings; while the strikers get a little bit more support.

The last time the two countries met for an international friendly was on November 5, 2004 in Kuwait City ahead of a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier later that month in Oman. And India actually went on to win the tie 3-2 with goals from Tomba Singh, Jerry Zirsanga and Abhishek Yadav in an action packed encounter. A repeat today would surely be welcome.

A guest at the match today will be English born "Player of Indian Origin" Michael Chopra, who only yesterday scored a goal in Cardiff City FC's win against Scunthorpe and he will be in the UAE to speak with the Team India management about becoming part of the team.

The match will be played at the Al-Wahda Stadium in Abu Dhabi and as per latest information with me there will be no live television coverage of the match in India.


Likely India Line-up

1-Subrata Pal; 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 41-Rakesh Masih, 30-Climax Lawrence, 28-Anthony Pereira; 9-Abhishek Yadav, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh