Before they start their campaign in the forthcoming under-20 Asian Football Championship qualifiers, to be held in Laos India’s coaches seem to have the key aim of snatching points from Iran, probably the toughest opposition in their group. 

India will play their opening match against Mongolia on 25th September, against Iran on 27th September, and against Laos on 29th September in their concluding group league match.

Looking at their rankings in the under-20 world football, Mongolia and Laos are behind India's under-20 side. But that does not reflect their weakness as the teams have not participated in enough FIFA-friendly matches to increase their ranking points. 

But Iran's under-20 team are presently placed 20th in the world under-20 football’s ranking. 

Indian under-20 squad had extensive training in Goa for nearly two months. They also performed well in the matches played against some of the Goan teams although continuous and torrential rain halted the training for several days. 

Additionally, India's think-tank seems to be worried about the fact that they have hardly been able to manage video footage of their opponent teams’ matches and training especially, Laos and Mongolia’s video clippings. The think-tank seems worried also about the failure in converting chances. Despite creating several opportunities Indian colts’ conversion failure forced India to crash out of the semi-final in the recently-concluded SAFF under-20 championship in Kathmandu. 

Still, expectations are there and the target is to snatch points from Iran. The team will fly to Laos on Sunday late evening.