Step by step we'll achieve our World Cup target, says Bibiano Fernandes ahead of AFC U-17 Asian Cup

Bibiano Fernandes also spoke about the injury concerns inside the camp.

While the senior national team is busy preparing for the upcoming 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the Indian U-17 side are all set to make their ninth appearance at the AFC U-17 Asian Cup. The Blue colts are grouped alongside defending champions Japan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. 

India will begin their campaign against Vietnam on Saturday and are highly motivated to level up their performance from the last campaign where they went on to make it to the qualifiers in 2018.

Ahead of India’s tournament opener, head coach Bibiano Fernandes addressed the media at the pre-match press conference and shared his thoughts.

Thoughts ahead of the tournament

The head coach began by sharing his thoughts ahead of the tournament. He said that the team has been together for quite sometime now and for how long they have been preparing for it.

“It has been a long journey for us before SAFF and even the qualifiers. We have been preparing for the tournament in Thailand and have had some good exposure tours in Europe as well."

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He further added that his side has prepared well and will try their best to win all the games.

“We know the competition level of the Asian Cup here and we are also aware of the levels of other teams in our group. Of course, everybody has come here to play, compete and to win and qualify for the World Cup. We have prepared well and will try our best to win and qualify for the World Cup as well,” he asserted.

Learnings from exposure tours

The Indian team took an exposure tour to Europe where they played against top European sides such as Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, Stuttgart and Augsburg. Speaking about the learnings from the exposure tour, Bibiano Fernandes said that it was a good tour for the team, but the level here will be different.

“We had a very good exposure tour in Europe where we played very good teams and we got good results as well. But, we know that the matches and the level (here) will be different. 

He also said that the team has been preparing to adapt to different situations to play under a lot of pressure and noise from the crowd.

“Vietnam, Japan and Uzbekistan are mostly regulars in the Asian Cup. And we have tried and prepared ourselves well for this competition and we are looking forward to it. There were some training sessions to adapt to the environment here. We know that the other teams will have supporters cheering for them and keeping that in mind we have to perform under the pressure and noise."

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Target for the tournament

India have a strong an dynamic unit for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup. When asked about the team’s target going into the tournament, Bibiano made it clear and loud that India want to win and qualify for the World Cup.

“As we come into this competition, we know that it's also about development but winning is more important. We will take it step by step. Every time we will be on the pitch, we’ll try to win all our matches. Of course, the target is to qualify for the World Cup and step by step we’ll achieve our target,” he replied.

Team News

The head coach also gave a quick update on his team and was pleased to announce that there are no injury concerns going into the tournament opener. “No, until now, by god’s grace, there have been no injury concerns in our team,” he signed off.