It should be awfully painful for any coach to travel to an international tournament with the national football team without even a day’s training and an inadequate number of footballers. 

Clifford Miranda is in such a state of mind. The former India international will have his debut as the national coach of the under-23 team for the forthcoming AFC Under-23 Championship, starting on 6th September in Dalian, China. 

But the unfortunate part is that out of 28 footballers, summoned to attend the national preparatory camp in Bhubaneswar, only 13 footballers have joined the camp. The remaining 15 footballers, called up in the camp have not yet been released by the respective clubs. According to the rule, a participating team has to register a minimum number of 18 footballers in the tournament. Clifford is expecting the required five more footballers will join the team to depart on 3rd September for Dalian. 

The coach under whose guidance Odisha FC clinched the Super Cup this season, explained, "The AIFF made request. I also requested the clubs. But they also have logic as they say footballers can only be released during the Fifa window. I cannot say how the solution will come.” 

But at the same time, Clifford expressed thankfulness to clubs like Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru FC, FC Goa, Hyderabad, Gokulam FC, and North East United FC who released footballers despite their busy schedule with Durand Cup and respective state leagues. 

India is grouped with UAE, Maldives, and China in the competition. When asked about his expectation in the tournament Clifford said, "How can you expect from the boys when they will enter the field without a single-day training as a team? I could have opined if they had the preparation needed for such an important competition. So, I cannot comment anything on the boys’ performance.