Bhaichung

Hyderabad: The Indian football team will seek to forget recent setbacks and take inspiration from last year’s Nehru Cup triumph when it kicks off its AFC Challenge Cup campaign against Afghanistan here on Wednesday.

After the Nehru Cup win last August, which was the country’s first major title in 23 years, India have not done anything extraordinary.

A win for India in the eight-nation tournament here will see them qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup.

India, are the second highest ranked side at 153rd after formidable North Korea who are ranked 94th in latest Fifa charts.

Group A opponents and defending champions Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are at 154th and 158th. Besides North Korea, Sri Lanka (161st), Myanmar (164th) and Nepal (177th) are the other three teams in group B.

For the home team, the North Koreans would be the most formidable opponents considering that the East Asians have made it to the final qualifying round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after playing two drawn matches against their more fancied neighbours South Korea.

India had a satisfying 12-day training-cum-exposure tour of Portugal as part of the preparation for this tournament before playing Malaysia in a friendly match here on July 22 which was a 1-1 draw.

A win for India will give them the confidence against Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on August 1 and 3, respectively, which they should look to win to top the group and avoid North Koreans in the semi-finals.

Coach Bob Houghton has been worried about injuries to some key players in the run up to the meet. Key defender N.S. Manju has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury while top players Steven Dias and Mahesh Gawli are doubtful for Wednesday’s match.

Teams

India (from): Subrata Paul, Subhasis Roy Chowdhury, Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Anwar Ali, Gourmangi Singh, Govin M Singh, Steven Dias, Bungo Singh, N.P. Pradeep, Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda, Renedy Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Baldeep Singh (Jr), K Ajayan, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sunil Chetri, Avhishek Yadav, Sushil Singh, Bhaichung Bhutia (captain).

Afghanistan (from): Abdul Saboor Aser, Ali Ahmad Yarzada, Ata Yamrali, Bashir Ahmad Saadat, Djelaluddin Shrityar, Emal Gariwal, Faisal Sakhi Zada, Hadid Mustafa, Hafizullah Qadami, Hamidullah Rastagar, Harez Arian Habib, Israfeel Kohistani, Salem Nahemi, Qudratullah Hussaini, Sayed Bashir Azimi, Shamsuddin Amiri, Yusuf Barak, Zohib Islam.