Indian Football Team: 'We need to drop Senior Players immediately to Dream for Future', says former India Footballer Syed Rahim Nabi

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Former India footballer Syed Rahim Nabi says India will have to stop dreaming of achieving big things with the current senior and overaged players.

India will be taking on Kuwait in a crucial World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers match in June. The Blue Tigers lost to Afghanistan at home in March and drew the away match to jeopardize their chances of qualification to the next round.

Igor Stimac, the India coach, has been under the heat for the lack of positive results and recently stated that he will be stepping down from his job if he fails to take India to the next round of qualifiers.

Amid this, the Kuwait match is going to be crucial for the Blue Tigers. The match will be held in Kolkata and that will be India's only pragmatic chance of getting points. India are level on points with Afghanistan and will have to secure a positive result to ensure their berth.

But when it comes to the fulfilment of the World Cup dream or competing at the highest level, former India defender Syed Rahim Nabi says it is impossible to do it with the current set of senior players.

In an exclusive chat with MyKhel, Nabi said the introduction of fresh blood is necessary and India will have to move on from players like Sunil Chhetri.

"We have to move on the senior players. India need to drop aged players immediately to dream big for the future. You can't dream of achieving big with overaged players," Nabi says to MyKhel in an Exclusive chat.

"A player like Sunil Chhetri and other senior players - you can't think about winning with them. Sunil is a legend of Indian football without a doubt, but you have to understand his age and physical capacity. One can't expect him to play 90 minutes at the same level and you have to manage the workload and bring in young players to the team."