Akhil Rawat
AIFF Media Team

CHONBURI, THAILAND: The India U17 men's team will get their AFC U17 Asian Cup 2025 Qualifiers campaign underway in Group D against Brunei Darussalam on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at the Chonburi Stadium at 14:30 IST.

Ishfaq Ahmed and his boys are looking to become the fifth consecutive Indian team to qualify for the Asian U16/17 continental tournament. India have previously qualified for the 2016 (as hosts), 2018 and 2020 AFC U16 Championship, and the 2023 AFC U17 Asian Cup. A total of 16 teams (10 group winners and five best runners-ups) will book their berth at the final tournament in Saudi Arabia in April 2025. Hosts Thailand and Turkmenistan are the other two nations in the four-team Group D.

India arrive into the qualifiers fresh from their dominant triumph in the SAFF U17 Championship in Bhutan last month. The conditions in Thailand, however, are vastly different from the cool mountains of Bhutan. But the Blue Colts are no strangers to playing in humid Southeast Asian weather, having toured Indonesia for two friendlies (a 1-3 loss followed by a 1-0 win) in August.

At the pre-tournament press conference, India head coach Ishfaq Ahmed spoke about the team's preparations and the Thai weather.

"Our preparations have been quite good. We had a three-month long camp and recently played some good matches at the SAFF Championship. We are ready for these qualifiers.

"We have been discussing the weather a lot. I have spent a lot of time in Thailand during my career. At this time of the year, the weather can be unpredictable here. It may be raining and suddenly it will get sunny. We can only pray for the weather to help us and not spoil the match. Obviously, the pitch feels nice when it doesn't rain, so hopefully the rain Gods are with us and we will have a good tournament," said Ahmed.

It's imperative to keep a plan ready for the entire qualifiers and all three opponents when there's just a day's gap between games. But Ahmed affirmed that the team is only focussed on beating Brunei Darussalam at the moment and making the perfect start before more challenging rivals.

"We are not thinking ahead at the moment. Our immediate hurdle is Brunei Darussalam and that's what we're fully concentrating on. We know all the teams here are good and if we want to beat everyone, we have to play our best football. We have seen all our opponents and how they play. I think and hope it's going to be an entertaining qualifying tournament," said Ahmed.

With 10 losses in their last 10 competitive fixtures (their last win coming in 2019 against Northern Mariana Islands), Brunei Darussalam come into the qualifiers with nothing to lose.

Their most recent outing at the ASEAN U16 Championship in June was an addition to their list of forgettable campaigns at the youth level. Brunei Darussalam conceded a whopping 29 goals in three matches (0-15 vs Vietnam, 1-8 vs Myanmar and 0-6 vs Cambodia). A total of 15 out of the 23 players from Brunei's squad at the ASEAN Championship are part of these qualifiers.

Brunei head coach Haji Rozaimienizam, nevertheless, maintained an optimistic attitude at the press conference. "Firstly, I would like to thank the AFC for this opportunity. Our preparations have been very well. We have a good group of players who are excited for these games," he said.

"We do believe that India are a very strong team. We have come together here to share the beauty of the game. So, we wish to give our strongest performance and share the Brunei football culture with the world," added the Brunei coach.