FIFA 2022: Blue Tigers hit artificial turf ahead of Afghan clash

In a bid to acclimatise the conditions at the two back to back qualifiers in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Indian football team didn’t waste much time to hit the “artificial turf" at the national capital on Saturday evening.

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'We need to get acclimatised soon'

“There is a long travel in front of us, a different climate and a match on an artificial pitch. We needed to train on an artificial turf to get acclimatised soon," he said. “It’s most important that we are together now and are concentrating on the upcoming games. We need to work on the players’ movements and passing. These days of training will be extremely crucial in order to stay on top of our preparation against Afghanistan,” the head coach Igor Stimac said on the sidelines of the training session.

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"It is an away game, so we have to be more cautious and utilise the opportunities that we get. We are monitoring all the players and we’ll fix our strategy accordingly,” he added. The team underwent a "ball passing" session, followed by a short stretching session under strength and conditioning coach Luka Radman at the artificial turf of the Sports Academy. The medical team was seen monitoring and taking notes of all players who were present. The squad is scheduled to depart from India on Monday for game against Afghanistan on November 14, and with Oman in Muscat on November 19.

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Adil Khan, Amrinder Singh, Sarthak Golui, Raynier Fernandes, Vinit Rai, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Mandar Rao Dessai, Jackichand Singh, Manvir Singh, Seiminlen Doungel and Subhasish Bose have already reported to the camp while others will join in the next couple of days.

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