KATHMANDU: Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri is expecting a tough outing in their two upcoming friendly internationals against Nepal.
India are scheduled to play Nepal on September 2 and September 5 in two away games.
“This is an excellent opportunity for us to improve as a team. Given the current circumstances, it wasn’t easy to get a friendly game,” Chhetri told the All India Football Federation.
“The Nepal federation and government invited us to play, and we thank them for the opportunity and the gesture. Nepal are a very tough side, especially when they play against us, and we are aware of the extreme challenge the two matches present us,” he added.
Other than Chhetri, Pritam Kotal and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, none of the players of the current team have been to Nepal with the senior side.
The trio was there in 2015 when India qualified from the play-offs to the Russia 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.
For Chhetri, this is his fourth visit to the Himalayan nation.
Head coach Igor Stimac said, “I just hope that it doesn’t rain heavily.”
Coincidentally, the preparatory camp in Kolkata had also witnessed heavy downpours, but not extreme enough to become a concern.
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