AIFF Media Team

MUMBAI: India's numero uno Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu lauded Dheeraj Singh for his stupendous display in the FIFA U17 World Cup. "I have high hopes from Dheeraj because he is a very good prospect who can do a lot for this country,” Sandhu, the first Indian to ever played in the UEFA Europa League stated.

"Being the first choice (goalkeeper) so far has been good for me. But I can't take my place for granted. And whoever the next one is, I hope he is better than me,” Sandhu opined.

On being asked about India's prospect in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, the custodian expressed: "We can't be complacent and need to work hard. If we don't put in our hard work, it will be difficult for us,” he mentioned. “We need to play at our best on those days. Otherwise, it won’t matter. Thailand, Bahrain are good teams and UAE being the home side will be a difficult side to deal with."

Sandhu felt, the Hero Intercontinental Cup is a “good opportunity” for the team before the Continental championship and the team is ready to grab it.

"It is a very good platform for us to start building for AFC Asian Cup. We are lucky to have good opponents coming to India and giving us games. So we need to use it and make sure that we perform and learn from this experience. Make no mistake, New Zealand, Kenya and Chinese Taipei are tough teams."

The 26-year-old Goalkeeper who made his International debut against Turkmenistan seven years back also added: "Chinese Taipei beat Bahrain recently and All Whites (New Zealand) need no introduction at all. Kenya have been a strong physical side and every team are going to give us different sort of problem.”

The tournament is going to be telecast on Star Sports 2, 2 HD and will be streamed on Hotstar. Tickets are available on www.bookmyshow.com.