National Youth Team
India look to end campaign on a high
11 Oct 2013

By Debayan Mukherjee,
AIFF Media Team

DOHA: The India U-19 National Team will be looking to end their AFC U-19 Championship (Qualifiers) campaign with a win when they take on Turkmenistan in the last Group A engagement here at the Al Arabi Stadium in Doha on Sunday (October 12, 2013).

While India are on third position in the points table with three points from that many matches, Turkmenistan are just behind them in fourth place owing to inferior goal difference, having the same number of points from three outings.

But India Head Coach Colm Joseph Toal is taking this game as another very important international match for the Boys.

“Tomorrow is another International Match for us. Any International Match is important for the boys as they learn great deal from them,” Toal told www.the-aiff.com. “We would do our best to get a good result and end on a good note. We have performed reasonably well in this Tournament but don’t have the results to compliment it.

India lost to Qatar after a spirited first-half display by two goals in their opening game only to bounce back against Nepal to script a deserving 1-0 victory. The Blue shirts then went down fighting against highest ranked in the group Uzbekistan by three goals on Thursday.

“They are a really good team with good shape. They kept us going till the last whistle and were competitive. The spirits of these lads are worth appreciating,” Uzbekistan Coach Aleksey Evstafeev said after the match.

“They have got some very good Players. They will also look to get back to winning ways after their disappointing result against Qatar in the last game,” Toal said about India’s opponents.  

India are expected to shuffle the first XI that went unchanged in all the three matches so far. “We will try and put out the most competitive Team possible on Sunday. We have to keep in mind that the starting XI played three matches in six days and their body needs rest.”

“We have Players on the bench who will cherish the International Exposure in the last match and it will be vital to their development as well. Let’s see,” Toal informed.

The match at the Al Arabi Stadium kicks off at 4:30 PM local time and 7PM IST.

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