Piyush Khanore
AIFF Media Team

PATTAYA, THAILAND: The India beach soccer national team have set sights on their second game in the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Thailand 2025 against Kuwait. The match will be played at the Jomtien Beach Arena in Pattaya, Thailand, on Saturday, March 22, 2025, and will kick-off at 3:30 pm IST.

India began the Beach Soccer Asian Cup campaign, their first in 18 years, with a 0-3 loss at the hands of hosts Thailand. Meanwhile, Lebanon defeated Kuwait 5-4 in the other match of the group. The top two teams in the group will progress to the quarter-finals.

India head coach Mohd Faizal Bin Sood highlighted the importance of reducing the numbers of errors on the sand.

“We need to focus on minimising our mistakes and create more chances at the same time,” Faizal said to the-aiff.com. “We have a good set of players at our disposal, and I think if we can execute our plans properly, we can do good things.”

Currently placed at the bottom of Group A, the India head coach believes that it is imperative for his side to get a result against Kuwait.

“Kuwait are of course a very physical side, they have some strong players,” he said. “It won’t be easy, but we have our plans as well. We’ve got players who can nullify Kuwait’s physical advantage with speed. We must be quicker, we must play smarter.”

Captain Rohith Yesudas, who has been busy motivating the lads ahead of the game against Kuwait, believes in putting the past behind.

“We gave our best against Thailand, but a few mistakes cost us the game. It was definitely a learning experience,” said Yesudas. “Whatever happened in the last game is now behind us. We can only focus on the match ahead, and come back stronger.”