Soumo Ghosh
AIFF Media Team

KATHMANDU, NEPAL: The India U20 Men’s National Team are determined to seal their semi-final spot in the SAFF U20 Championship 2024, as they gear up to face the Maldives in their second and the last match of Group B.

Despite a winning start to the tournament, a 1-0 victory against Bhutan, India have faced a few challenges since then, their training sessions being hampered by the unending downpour in Nepal.

While the team chose to let their players recover the day after the Bhutan match (Monday, August 19), Wednesday’s training session had to be called off due to rain. Despite the downpour subsiding on Thursday to some extent, the conditions of the pitches have caused some concern amidst the Indian camp, who do not want to risk injuries to their players. Hence they were seen training on the athletic tracks around the Army ground in the city on the eve of the Maldives game.

Head coach Ranjan Chaudhuri said, “It is certainly not an ideal situation. We cannot afford to just sit back and not train, but at the same time, we cannot risk injuries to our players either. We still have a few matches in this campaign and the AFC U20 Asian Cup Qualifiers next month.

“After seeing the conditions, my coaching staff and I decided that we would rather do a few drills with the boys on the athletic track and go ahead with the game tomorrow (Friday),” said Chaudhuri.

India already have one foot in the semi-finals of the competition, having earned three points from one match so far. A draw against the Maldives will be enough for them to qualify as the group toppers. Maldives will be going into the match without a point as they lost to Bhutan 1-2 in their first outing.

However, the Blue Colts have nothing but three points in mind.

“We’ve seen Maldives play in the last game. They are an organised side, and it looks like they have had a decent preparation for the game. A draw may be enough for us, but we will go in with a winning mentality,” said Chaudhuri.

India will miss the services of centre-back Pramveer and playmaker Vanlalpeka Guite against Maldives after the two were sent off in the match against Bhutan.

“Yes, we have two suspensions, but at this point, we are treating this as just another one of those things that have gone against us,” said Chaudhuri. “I’ve been repeatedly telling the boys that these are the small things that we need to use to give us that extra fire in our bellies. We must answer every setback with a victory. At the end of the day, nothing will answer the naysayers better than success.”

India’s match against the Maldives will kick off at 2.45 pm IST at the ANFA Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Friday, August 23, 2024, and will be streamed live on the Sportsworkz YouTube channel.