For India’s national football team, playing against five-time Fifa World Cup champions Brazil is indeed “a great opportunity” to challenge those who belong at the highest echelons of the sport.
There is also the possibility of playing in many more difficult clashes like the ones against Brazil and two-time world champions Uruguay on October 3 and 6, respectively, at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Senior goalkeeper and captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu did acknowledge India’s need for more such matches against stronger teams.
“This is a great opportunity for all of us in the ecosystem to kind of understand that if such a big team (Brazil) is coming to India, how did it go? Like, was the response positive or negative? Or, what we can work on? And hopefully, it opens the gates to a lot more games like this,” Gurpreet said in a select virtual interaction organised by Sony.
“But yes, you don’t always need Brazil or Uruguay or Panama to come.
“Sometimes, even the best in Asia can come here and we can rub shoulders with them as those guys are also playing the World Cup.
“I do hope these matches open the gates to a lot of difficult teams to be invited over here and also for us to be invited away from home. And hopefully, these games provide that insight and platform for the future.”
On his part, Gurpreet isn’t really overwhelmed with the prospect of facing Brazil.
The team’s focus at present, is on the first international friendly, which is against Panama in Bengaluru on Friday.
Panama, too, are a World Cup side, having made their debut in the 2018 edition before taking part in the one held this year.
“I cannot describe the feeling yet. For me, personally, I’m not feeling either overwhelmed or nervous or anxious at present because we haven’t played the game yet. Also, they (Brazil) haven’t arrived in India yet.
“For us right now, the main goal as a team is the Panama game, because that’s who we are facing on the 25th. And once that game is finished, then obviously, we’ll shift our focus to Brazil and then Uruguay,” Gurpreet stated.
“We know these games are big and the opposition is strong. But what they have done in the past, their form and stuff like that don’t concern us because we want to focus on ourselves and make sure that as a team, we’re ready for whoever we face. And right now, we are facing Panama first.”
Talking about what India, ranked 138 in the Fifa rankings at present, can achieve from these three international friendlies, Gurpreet said these games could help them challenge the bigger teams of Asia.
“The end goal is for us to be ready for (bigger) teams in Asia.
“Also, I don’t think we should go into these games thinking that we should be on the back foot for the entire 90 minutes.
“I hope that we get something out of them.
“Even if we make mistakes, it’s okay, but I want us to be a little bit braver with the ball and even without the ball, not take pressure and be free and try things out.
“This is the best opportunity. You might get these games again, or might not. So, try something and be brave and let whatever happens, happen.
“And whatever works, we want to take that forward for the (Cup) qualifiers next year,” Gurpreet elaborated.
Appeal to clubs
The national team’s performance over the past few months has been below par. But a major reason for that has been the absence of experienced players, Gurpreet reasoned.
The captain hopes that in the future, key players get the approval to join the national squad from their respective clubs. “If we had the full squad (in the matches played in the last few months), the results could’ve been a little different,” Gurpreet said.
“So, I’m really hopeful that in the future, when the national team gets together, everyone called up and selected gets permission from their respective clubs to join. That would give us a better chance of competing and winning games.”