Blue Tigers face Asian champs on Thursday
PANAJI: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was simply unbeatable in the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
The India goalkeeper came up with 11 saves to keep the rampaging Asian champions at bay on September 10, 2019. It was for the first time that Qatar dropped points against Asian opposition, and as the teams prepare to face off again on Thursday, Gurpreet believes they can continue to punch above the weight.
“It’s not impossible,” Gurpreet told TOI in a video call on Tuesday. “If we have done it against Qatar (in the past), we can do again. We believe in our abilities. Everyone is hungry to play for the country again.”
India are returning to the qualifiers after 18 months and must start winning, sooner rather than later. With the third-placed team assured of a direct spot in the third round of the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, Igor Stimac’s side must win two of their three games.
Then there is the matter of wiping out memories of the embarrassing 0-6 defeat against UAE when the national team last made an appearance. In Gurpreet’s eyes, there are other reasons too.
“The situation (due to coronavirus pandemic) is not all that great right now. Everyone wants to have something good happening in their life and this will be our chance to provide that to the people of our country,” said India’s numero uno goalkeeper.
Before the pandemic paralysed the world, India were on the road to recovery. The famous draw against Qatar was preceded by an impressive showing, although for 80 minutes, against Oman in Guwahati. It took Bangladesh and Afghanistan to later puncture everyone’s belief.
“It’s difficult to judge a team in the middle of a pandemic,” said Gurpreet. “Before the pandemic, we had a clear roadmap. We transitioned into a good team, a team difficult to play against. Things were happening pretty well.
“But not playing any international football for 14 months, then stop again and play, it’s not an easy job to do. To try and get hold of things is a challenge. We should make sure that those things don’t come to our mind.”
The 29-year-old goalkeeper, only Indian to feature in the Europa League – European football’s second-tier club competition – believes India’s fourth position in the group, with three points from five matches, is a fair reflection of what they have done in the qualifiers.
The draw against Asian champions Qatar will rank as the best performance in recent times, although they now need to start winning, something they have failed to do in five matches so far.
“You can say that we are the ones responsible for how we have played in the previous games. We could have done a lot more. We know how close we were against Oman in both games, home and away. To get going, it takes time. We had a transition of coaches and systems.
“We have to start all over again, with the clash against Qatar. When we played them last, we were resilient, gave everything and there were some sparks of us trying to get a goal as well, and not just defending.
“If someone would have offered me an option of taking a draw against Qatar at their home (in the first leg), I would have taken it. Lot of people wrote us off even before that game started. To go out there and play against the best team in Asia, I think it was a great performance and great achievement. We need to do it again,” said Gurpreet.
India face Asian champions Qatar on June 3, followed by Bangladesh (June 7) and Afghanistan (June15).
PANAJI: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was simply unbeatable in the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
The India goalkeeper came up with 11 saves to keep the rampaging Asian champions at bay on September 10, 2019. It was for the first time that Qatar dropped points against Asian opposition, and as the teams prepare to face off again on Thursday, Gurpreet believes they can continue to punch above the weight.
“It’s not impossible,” Gurpreet told TOI in a video call on Tuesday. “If we have done it against Qatar (in the past), we can do again. We believe in our abilities. Everyone is hungry to play for the country again.”
India are returning to the qualifiers after 18 months and must start winning, sooner rather than later. With the third-placed team assured of a direct spot in the third round of the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, Igor Stimac’s side must win two of their three games.
Then there is the matter of wiping out memories of the embarrassing 0-6 defeat against UAE when the national team last made an appearance. In Gurpreet’s eyes, there are other reasons too.
“The situation (due to coronavirus pandemic) is not all that great right now. Everyone wants to have something good happening in their life and this will be our chance to provide that to the people of our country,” said India’s numero uno goalkeeper.
Before the pandemic paralysed the world, India were on the road to recovery. The famous draw against Qatar was preceded by an impressive showing, although for 80 minutes, against Oman in Guwahati. It took Bangladesh and Afghanistan to later puncture everyone’s belief.
“It’s difficult to judge a team in the middle of a pandemic,” said Gurpreet. “Before the pandemic, we had a clear roadmap. We transitioned into a good team, a team difficult to play against. Things were happening pretty well.
“But not playing any international football for 14 months, then stop again and play, it’s not an easy job to do. To try and get hold of things is a challenge. We should make sure that those things don’t come to our mind.”
The 29-year-old goalkeeper, only Indian to feature in the Europa League – European football’s second-tier club competition – believes India’s fourth position in the group, with three points from five matches, is a fair reflection of what they have done in the qualifiers.
The draw against Asian champions Qatar will rank as the best performance in recent times, although they now need to start winning, something they have failed to do in five matches so far.
“You can say that we are the ones responsible for how we have played in the previous games. We could have done a lot more. We know how close we were against Oman in both games, home and away. To get going, it takes time. We had a transition of coaches and systems.
“We have to start all over again, with the clash against Qatar. When we played them last, we were resilient, gave everything and there were some sparks of us trying to get a goal as well, and not just defending.
“If someone would have offered me an option of taking a draw against Qatar at their home (in the first leg), I would have taken it. Lot of people wrote us off even before that game started. To go out there and play against the best team in Asia, I think it was a great performance and great achievement. We need to do it again,” said Gurpreet.
India face Asian champions Qatar on June 3, followed by Bangladesh (June 7) and Afghanistan (June15).
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