Indian football team to get seven days preparation time before World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan

Indian football team will face Afghanistan on March 21.

The 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) season is all set to resume on Wednesday (January 31) when Jamshedpur FC host NorthEast United FC to kick off the second half of the campaign. The remainder of the ISL league stages will stretch until April 14 – after which the ISL playoffs will take place and end the 2023-24 Indian football season before May.

With that being said, it appears that the Indian Football Team is not being given that much preparation time for their upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Afghanistan in March. The Blue Tigers are set to travel to face Afghanistan for match on March 21 – but the ISL stages will stretch until March 14 – ending with the game between FC Goa and Bengaluru FC.

This can be something that further irks head coach Igor Stimac, who will be desperate to get his side back to winning ways after the disappointing AFC Asian Cup campaign. The Croatian coach has constantly asked for longer preparatory camps in the past and might have just a week or so to work with his full squad before the first game against Afghanistan.

He could opt to ask players from teams that finish off their ISL duty before the March international break a few days before March 14, with only Odisha FC having no matches in the ISL matchday 19 but could still end up having to work with an uneven squad of players.  

A number of players from FC Goa and Bengaluru FC are regulars in the India squad for these crunch games, so the likes of Sandesh Jhingan, Sunil Chhetri and Suresh Singh Wangjam won’t be able to join the India squad before March 15 anyway and will only have a handful of days to prepare for the big World Cup qualifier.

On top of that, Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Kerala Blasters – two heavyweight ISL sides – meet on March 13 and a number of internationals from the two squads will also not be able to join the training camp anytime earlier.

The ISL organizers are unlikely to push back the dates of the ISL matches before the March international break anyhow – working in line with the European leagues that actually have scheduled matches for the weekend of March 15-17 before allowing players to join their national team for the matches.

India will face Afghanistan twice in the space of under a week towards the end of March. After their away tie against the  Lions of Khorasan on March 21, they host the Afghanistan side at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium (Guwahati) on March 26.

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