Sudeep Pakrashi:

A day before India’s under-23 men’s football team’s crucial tie against host Qatar in the ongoing under-23 Asian Cup qualifiers, national coach Naushad Moosa seems to have gained the belief, saying, “Despite the fact we do not have any video footage of Qatar’s recent matches, we are prepared mentally. We need points from this match.”

The blue colts have already started their campaign on a winning note, drubbing Bahrain 2-0. The emergence of a ‘new kid on the block’ like Mohammed Suhail, whose crafty goal against Bahrain has already drawn the attention of the legend in Indian football like IM Vijayan has also added the ‘self-belief’ among the other footballers.

But the former Indian international and the experienced coach feels this self-belief was instilled into the footballers during the team’s exposure trip to Malaysia. “Playing against the stronger team, like Iraq, played a crucial role in generating the ‘self-belief’. We lost both the friendly matches against Iraq. But the footballers realized they al so could also fight even against a stronger team and deliver their best. The reflection was against Bahrain.”

The blue colts have been deprived of three experienced footballers like Techam Abhishek Singh, Dipendu Biswas and Suhail Bhat as they were not released by Mohun Bagan Super Giants. Moosa did not seem perturbed. Rather he explained, “It is true that the team would have been stronger. But, the new boys who have been debutants with the national jersey like Mohammed Suhail’s performance have also been inspiring and looking forward to the feature these boys can asset of senior national team also. These boys might not have had chances of coming in the first eleven if the experienced MBSG footballers had joined the team. So I feel it has been a significant journey for these boys.”