India's World Cup Qualifier Against Kuwait Could Transform Players' Careers, Says Stimac

Indian football team coach Igor Stimac has emphasized the significance of the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Kuwait, describing it as a game that could "change the careers" of his players. India will face Kuwait at the Salt Lake Stadium in their penultimate second-round game, followed by an away match against Qatar on June 11.

Despite their disappointing loss to Afghanistan in the home leg in March, India still has a chance to qualify for the third round of qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Stimac believes that a victory against Kuwait could be a turning point for his team.

"It's a huge game. The careers of the boys can change with this game. I want them to enjoy and do their best in the game," Stimac said.

India, currently ranked 121st in FIFA, will be looking to improve their performance against Kuwait, especially with talisman Sunil Chhetri playing his farewell match for the national team.

"For such an important game, we need to do a few things; in regards to strength conditioning, in regards to understanding what it needs, in regards to how important this game is, and in regards to mental strength and self-confidence," Stimac said.

"So, we work on all aspects needed for our boys to be on top of their form in this game."

The head coach stressed the importance of patience and clever play against Kuwait.

"There are two key points for the preparations for this game. First, winning the game is crucial. And to reach that target, we need to be very clever. We need to understand that in the game, we require patience," Stimac said.

"If we don't open the scoring in the first half an hour, we need to be intelligent and play quality football together with pace. All these aspects are very important and we have to prepare for them."

India has not won in six matches and has scored only one goal in those games. However, Stimac believes that his team has the potential to overcome Kuwait.

"Each of those matches was very tough and I can clearly state that we controlled all those games in superb ways," Stimac said.

"We dominated for the bigger parts in each one of these games. We were above them physically. But on other occasions, before the Kuwait games, we had many games that helped us reach that level."

"But it is a different game now because they are coming here when we didn't have the opportunity to play games. No league is being played now, no club is available. But we did play two games between us to reach the intensity we required."

"And I need to tell you that the boys were superb in those two games. I am very happy with them; happy with everything that was done in the last three weeks," the coach added.

Tags: #IndianFootball, #FIFAWorldCupQualifiers, #Kuwait, #IgorStimac, #SunilChhetri