Soumo Ghosh
AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The India U23 Men’s National Team are currently hard at work in New Delhi, preparing for their two friendly matches, which they will play against Malaysia U23s in Malaysia, during the March 2024 FIFA Window.

The Blue Colts will face the hosts on March 22 and 25; both matches will kick off at 7.30 p.m. IST.

Coached by former India defender Naushad Moosa, the U23s have had a few sessions in the capital and will have one more session before flying out to Kuala Lumpur to play the two friendlies.

Moosa, who has been working with the team for the last few days, believes in the importance of working as per the needs of the Senior Men’s Team since the juniors graduating to the next level is the natural, continuous process of taking football ahead.

“It’s important for us to see what the senior team wants and play according to that. These are the boys who will ultimately go and play for the Senior Team,” Moosa told the-aiff.com.

“We have a four-day camp here in Delhi, so we’re trying our best to build from here and go ahead. The most important thing for us at this stage is to give the boys an idea of the way we want to play so that they can execute that on the pitch,” he said.

Malaysia, under Spanish coach Juan Torres Garrido, are currently preparing for the AFC U23 Asian Cup, set to take place in Doha, Qatar, in April. Garrido took charge of the Malaysia U23s a day before the senior teams of India and Malaysia crossed swords in the Merdeka Tournament last year.

Having analysed a few of Malaysia’s matches, Moosa said, “We’ve shown a couple of their matches to the boys, and we are strategising according to that. They’ve got an attacking team that does not play too many passes in midfield. They like to move the ball quickly and take a lot of shots at the goal, so our boys must be careful. We must play in a compact manner against them.”

The India U23s had a mixed bag of results last year, losing their AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers Group G against hosts China (1-2) and UAE (0-3) in September, but made it to the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in China.

The Malaysia U23s had beaten Bangladesh (2-0) and the Philippines (4-0), and lost to Thailand (0-1) in the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers last year. Their most recent match was a friendly against China U23s, which they lost 1-2.

India Under 23 squad:

Goalkeepers: Arsh Anwer Shaikh, Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Vishal Yadav

Defenders: Bikash Yumnam, Chingambam Shivaldo Singh, Hormipam Ruivah, Narender, Robin Yadav, Sandip Mandi

Midfielders: Abhishek Suryavanshi, Brison Fernandes, Mark Zothanpuia, Mohammed Aimen, Thoiba Singh Moirangthem, Vibin Mohanan

Forwards: Abdul Rabeeh, Gurkirat Singh, Isak Vanlalruatfela, Khumanthem Ninthoinganba Meetei, Mohammed Sanan, Parthib Sundar Gogoi, Sivasakthi Narayanan, Vishnu Puthiya Valappill

Head coach: Naushad Moosa