The senior India men\u2019s national team, who had travelled to Thailand with a 28-member squad, will now shift base to Hong Kong five days prior to their Asian qualifier with a 25-man squad, sans goalkeeper Hrithik Tiwari, centre-back Mehtab Singh, and full-back Subhasish Bose, who will travel back to India directly from Thailand. Bose was ruled out of the match against Thailand as well due to an injury.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Looking back at the match against Thailand, India head coach Manolo Marquez stressed the importance of capitalising on the opportunities that the team creates.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe reality is that when you don\u2019t score, especially the clear chances that we had, usually you lose the game,\u201d said Marquez. \u201cThailand have very good players, and if you don\u2019t take your chances against them, it will be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With five days to go for their Asian qualifier against Hong Kong, Marquez is now looking ahead to making last-minute adjustments before the Blue Tigers take the field.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou can always perform better than you did previously. There is no improvement without self-criticism. I feel that we can obviously play better, but physicality is one aspect that we miss out on in Indian football.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt was very similar in our match against Vietnam (1-1) last year. We had equalised because we scored from the chance that we got,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had more chances against Thailand, but if you don\u2019t score, the other team generally tend to score more than you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sandesh Jhingan, who captained the team against Thailand, echoed the coach\u2019s words and underlined the importance of introspection and analysing the areas of deficit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThere were negatives, and it\u2019s now up to us to go back to the video room, watch the clips, and try to improve from there. The main game is against Hong Kong, and I think it\u2019s good that we got to play a quality team like Thailand before that. This game was a good exercise for us,\u201d said Jhingan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sandesh Jhingan, who captained the team against Thailand, echoed the coach\u2019s words and underlined the importance of introspection and analysing the areas of deficit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Also Read: <\/b> LIVE Cricket Score<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n