Manolo Marquez speaks about Sunil Chhetri’s inclusion, overseas players ahead of Hong Kong clash

Manolo Marquez said that he was greatful to the supporters!

Manolo Marquez’s Indian national football team will take the field against the Hong Kong football team in Kowloon, tomorrow. Both sides are seeking a win as Group C is still wide open. The pressure is creeping up on both nations as only the best team from the group will qualify for the upcoming Asian Cup.

Manolo Marquez’s side is under pressure after losing 2-0 to Thailand in a friendly last week. Here is what India’s head coach had to say before their AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier against the Dragons.

Manolo Marquez talks about India’s preparation, loss against Thailand!

When asked about India’s preparation ahead of the game against Hong Kong, Manolo Marquez said, “Preparation in this case was good, if we compare with the former FIFA windows where you practically don’t have too much time. It was about three weeks between Kolkata, Bangkok, and here in Hong Kong and we are ready to perform tomorrow.”

India’s 2-0 loss against Thailand had people talking, given that the Blue Tigers have had a decent record against War Elephants. When asked about this, the Indian football team coach said, “Usually, the friendly games are a good test to prepare for the official games.”

“I know that everyone speaks about the score, about how we didn’t perform well, why we couldn’t score. But you know perfectly, if you score, the chances that you have…This is football. Everyone speaks in a different way.”

The Spaniard concluded by saying, “In my opinion, I think that most of the coaches, we are not very worried about the scores in the friendly games. We are focused on the important game tomorrow.”

Manolo on Sunil Chhetri’s inclusion in the Indian team!

Sunil Chhetri surprised everyone earlier this year as he announced his U-turn from international retirement. The Bengaluru FC skipper had a chat with the Indian head coach before making a decision to return on the back of a successful Indian Super League season

Talking about the Indian legend’s inclusion, Manolo Marquez said, “We need to check only the numbers this season. He is that one player who is 40 years old, a top professional, takes care of rest, diet, training sessions, everything.”

“He manages his body very well and I said before that we have problems scoring goals and this is the reason that Sunil Chhetri is here. He can help the team, obviously.”

On the policy for overseas players with national teams

Hong Kong’s national team features foreign-born players like Juninho, Stefan Pereira, Fernando, Dudu, Manolo Bleda, and Sohgo Ichikawa in their squad. These players have dual nationality and hence, feature for the Dragons.

Indian fans have long asked for Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) footballers to be a part of the national team. However, India’s domestic law doesn’t allow it as it asks a player to renounce foreign citizenship and secure an Indian passport.

When the topic of Hong Kong’s foreign-born players came up for debate in the press conference, Manolo Marquez said, “It’s very dangerous to reply to this question. Because it’s not a problem of the Hong Kong team. If I was a coach in Hong Kong, maybe I would do similar things.”

“The problem, in my opinion, is that I don’t know if in this case it’s FIFA or if it’s AFC but the rules should be the same for everyone. For example, I can accept players of double nationality. If you have your father, your mother, or someone very close that is from your country, I can understand.”

“But there are other countries that select players if they play for a certain number of years, in their competition. For me, this is not very fair and this is my opinion. But, again, this is not a problem of Hong Kong. We play in Syria, and I remember that I spoke with a striker, a Colombian guy, and he told me he had never been to Syria in his life. This is happening in a lot of teams like Indonesia and Sri Lanka.”

I feel that the rules should be the same for every country. For example, we have in Spain one guy who is from Chennai, but he has a Spanish nationality. His father is an Indian and his mother is from Madrid. This guy cannot play with a national team and for me, this is not fair.”

Indian national team manager sends his message to the fans!

When asked if he had a message to the Indian national team supporters, Manolo Marquez said, “The message is always the same. I am obviously grateful for the support that they have for the team.”

“If you are a coach in any situation, in any sport, you cannot promise results. But you can promise that the team will give everything for tomorrow to get the three points.”

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