The Blue Colts arrived in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, from Muscat, Oman, on Thursday, September 29, 2022, before shifting to Al Khobar, where most of their matches will be taking place. They have been clubbed in Group D of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers, where they will face the likes of Maldiv
The team landed in Oman yesterday to play against the hosts as part of their preparations for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers 2023 which is scheduled to begin on October 3, 2022 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
India, who rested experienced central defender Sandesh Jhingan, went into an arrear in the 37th minute but came back strongly within six minutes to level the score through Ashique Kuruniyan.
Now the assistant coach of the National Team, Gawali, 42, felt truly nostalgic on the eve of leaving for Vietnam to play the Hung Thinh Friendly Football Tournament from September 24-27, where India will take on Singapore and Vietnam.
The Blue Tigers demonstrated their dominance by smashing their opponents. With this win, India finished first in the group with nine points from three wins and also secured their second consecutive Asian Cup main-round entry for the first time in the tournament's history.
India started the match on the front foot just as they did against Afghanistan and they were duly rewarded for their efforts. They were awarded a corner in the 2nd minute of the game and they took full advantage of the set piece.
India will play Hong Kong in their last match of the Group D Asian Cup qualifiers at the VYBK on Tuesday. As things in the group stand, both India and Hong Kong are on 6 points each from 2 matches, with Hong Kong enjoying a superior goal difference of plus 4 in comparison to India's plus 3.
The Blue Tigers are on the cusp of qualifying for back-to-back editions of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in their history and need a just a point against Hong Kong to secure their berth in the AFC Asian Cup finals.