Stephen Constantine plays down favorite tag ahead of Macau tie

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Bengaluru, September 1: India football head coach Stephen Constantine has stated that there is no way they will underestimate the lowly ranked Macau in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match to be played on September 5.

The Indian team currently are top of Group A with six points and will now compete against Macau after back to back wins against Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic.

However, while addressing the media ahead of the match the coach, claimed that despite their good run his team will respect the opponent and will be cautious in the away tie.

In an interview to PTI, Constantine said, “Macau will be playing at home and in front of their home crowd. There’s always a marked difference between playing at home and playing an away match but we are aware of the challenge.”

“The matches provided us the much needed match practice ahead of our challenge against Macau.” said the coach.

The Indian team is training at Mumbai from 12th August and the British coach has named six U-23 players in the 24-member squad.

To get aclimatized to the current squad and formation they participated in a couple of international friendlies against Mauritius and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Tri-Nation Football Series recently.

Although they won the tournament, the team did not produce a convincing performance in the competition as they only managed a draw in their last game against St Kitts and Nevis, missing a lot of chances to win the game comprehensively.

However, with the unbeaten run and confidence in their stride, the Men in Blue will surely be eager to maintain their current form to clinch a win against 220 FIFA ranked Macau to maintain the lead in their group.

Indian Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subrata Paul, Albino Gomes

Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Arnab Mondal, Salam Ranjan Singh, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala

Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Md. Rafique, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Halicharan Narzary

Forwards: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh