Doha: India colts will look to exorcise the ghosts of Tehran when they clash with Uzbekistan in their third Group A encounter of the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers here on Thursday.
The Indian U-16 National Team – comprising the same batch playing the AFC U-19 Qualifiers at present – narrowly went down to eventual champions Uzbekistan in the AFC U-16 Championships in Tehran.
They lost 2-3 in their first opening Group D encounter where they later held Syria and China to goalless and 2-2 draws, respectively.
But fresh from their one-goal triumph over Nepal last Sunday, the Boys in Blue will be looking to pull off a heist against Uzbekistan.
“The fact that Uzbekistan have three different teams between the age group of 1995-1998 reflects the depth of their pool of youth players,” coach Colm Toal said.
“They have a team who will play the U-17 World Cup in UAE this month; they have a U-16 team and a U-19 team here in Doha. Also they have an U-20 outfit who took part in the FIFA U-20 World Cup recently and did remarkably well,” added Toal.
“The win against Nepal was vital and the Boys were excellent in that game. Even if the match had ended goalless, I would have been proud of the way we played. But of course it would have dashed our hopes of qualification,” Toal said.
“We are still alive thanks to Faiaz’s late winner. It gives us that extra impetus to go out there all guns blazing against Uzbekistan. It will be a tough match no doubt.
“They have some really good players, but the deserving win against Nepal should give us a lot of confidence,” he added.
While India sit third in the points table with three points from two matches, Uzbekistan are just behind Qatar in second position. (PTI)
