AFC Asian Cup 2024: Igor Stimac Wants India to 'Play Fearless' Irrespective Of Quality Opponents in Qatar

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Indian football team will start the 2024 with toughest assignment of the year as they compete in the AFC Asian Cup 2024 in Qatar with their opening match against World No. 25 Australia in the Group B encounter. Speaking to the media virtually, Coach Igor Stimac said the tournament is about playing fearless.

World No. 102 India, who are lowest ranking team in Group B, play their opening match on January 13 followed by the next Group B game against World No. 68 Syria on January 18 and No. 92 Uzbekistan on January 23. Coach Stimac, who earlier said AFC Asian Cup 2024 is not the team's priority, reiterated that FIFA World Cup Qualifiers remain a priority.

"This group is really strong, much stronger than that in the last AFC Asian Cup. And whatever we do, as many points as we get, it's gonna be fantastic," said Igor Stimac. "The most important thing for us is to have a good performance and to play stable football. Never mind that 17 out of 26 players are playing in such a big tournament for the first time, it will be a great experience for them."

"We are now trying to play fearless football, trying and intending to do our stuff, never mind who we play against. I don't mind the final result here. I just want our boys to enjoy the tournament, to gain the experience," Igor Stimac said.

"Our top priority this year is to qualify for the third round of the World Cup Qualifier as all these games from the Asian Cup - which are really important to us - should help us in the way of stabilising our game."

The Indian team has reached Qatar nearly two weeks before their first game of AFC Asian Cup 2024 to acclimatise to the climate conditions. They, however, will be without three key players Jeakson Singh, Anwar Ali and Ashique Kuruniyan. While the coach Igor Stimac has built the Indian team over the years with backup for every position but injuries to Glan Martins and Rohit Kumar further worried the coach.

"Everything started losing (falling apart) after Ashique. After him, it was Anwar and Jeakson followed. Then lately, the players who were mostly the backup options for us in the middle of the park, like Glan (Martins) and Rohit (Kumar) suffered certain injuries. So, are not as good as we could be at the moment, but we don't have time to think about those who are not with us," said Stimac.

"It's not easy because Anwar is one of the best young defenders in Asia already. So, it's a huge loss for us, especially in the build-up phase, with his calmness and stability on the passing and it's not going to be easy but the boys (Lalchungnunga and Rahul Bheke) have a great opportunity to grab the chance and take the position."