In a bid to revive the self-confidence and the fitness level up to the mark, chief national coach Igor Stimac wants a three-week intense preparatory camp for the senior national team before taking on Kuwait on 6th June. It is learned that Stimac wants the preparatory camp to be staged in Odisha and he is also keen to start the intense preparation immediately after the ISL playoffs.

He believes the footballers will reach the needed fitness level after going through extensive drill sessions, especially shooting practice. He is reportedly keen to play a couple of preparatory matches against local teams so that the strikers can get back confidence in scoring. Indian strikers had squandered a couple of positive chances against Afghanistan at their home match. 

However, the all-important second-round match against the ongoing World Cup qualifier against Kuwait is scheduled to be staged at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

Despite a poor show against Afghanistan comprising a draw in an away match and a 1-2 defeat at home, the chief national coach sounded optimistic about the national team's qualification for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers. 

The Croatian coach has been facing harsh criticism after the 1-2 defeat against Afghanistan at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Tuesday. He was booed by the fans after the end of the match. 

However, the federation’s acting general secretary Satyanarayan has issued a circular to all the members stating, ‘there has been a reported issue of allegation against a male staffer on ‘sexual harassment’ of a female staffer. The AIFF’s internal complaints committee (ICC) has been activated and they are enquiring into the matter. This is for information of all as there are reports of the same in the media today. AIFF follows a strict policy on such matters and we have an ICC in place and they have already started the process.

The AIFF executives, present at the Indira Gandhi Stadium to watch India-Afghanistan match were also taunted with slogans like "Gali Gali Mein Shor hai, AIFF Chor Hai," after the match ended.