AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The Indian senior men's team head coach Manolo Márquez said the friendly against Malaysia will be a good test for two sides aiming to qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

The Blue Tigers will assemble in Hyderabad when the FIFA International Window begins on November 11. The match between India and Malaysia is scheduled for November 18 at the GMC Balayogi Gachibowli Stadium. India played in Hyderabad during the September window as well, where they drew 0-0 with Mauritius and lost 0-3 to Syria in the Intercontinental Cup, which was Márquez's first assignment with the national team. India drew 1-1 in an away friendly against Vietnam in the October FIFA window.

"We will play in Hyderabad again against Malaysia, a team that, like us, is also in the fight to qualify for the Asian Cup. So, it will be a good test for both teams," said the Spaniard.

Márquez named 26 probables for the friendly on Tuesday. The list includes potential debutants like Mumbai City FC defender Hmingthanmawia Ralte, NorthEast United FC midfielder Jithin MS, Kerala Blasters FC midfielder Vibin Mohanan and Chennaiyin FC forward Irfan Yadwad. Back from his ACL injury, Sandesh Jhingan also returns to the Indian squad for the first time since January's Asian Cup.

"We have called 26 players and with every window, we are getting closer to the group that we want to have. We have two priorities, the first is to be in Pot 1 for the Asian Cup Qualifiers, which we are practically very close to. The second is to arrive in the best condition for the qualifiers in March because that's going to be our first official match," said Márquez.

India are currently ranked 125th (1133 points) after climbing a place following the draw with Vietnam. Malaysia, who are India's only rivals for the Pot 1 berth, are eight places down in 133rd (1113 points). Malaysia will play another friendly against Laos on November 14 before travelling to Hyderabad. The November window presents the last chance for the teams to finalise their FIFA rankings ahead of the December 9 draw for the AFC Asian Cup Final Round Qualifiers.

After the disappointment of the Intercontinental Cup and a relatively better showing in Vietnam, Márquez's men will aim to end the year on a high with a win. The coach feels that the team has improved with every training session so far.

"We finished with a good feeling in Vietnam. The first half was poor but we reacted well in the second half. The players understood the message. We can see when we have more time to train, we do better. Everyone prefers to have more games, but we are still in the process where it's better for us to have more training sessions. Our next window will be in March and we will probably have one more game in it before the official match," Márquez said.

India will begin their AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers campaign on March 25, 2025.