BENGALURU: The Indian U20 team is in high spirits as they are set to fly out to Tashkent on Wednesday, after going four friendly games unbeaten. The team will further prepare in Tashkent for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2027 Qualifiers.
India recorded three wins and a draw across their four international friendlies here earlier this month, beating Singapore twice (3-0 and 1-0), drawing 0-0 with Yemen, and securing a 1-0 victory in the second match against the West Asian side. The results provided Mahesh Gawali’s side with valuable match exposure ahead of the three crucial qualifiers in Uzbekistan.
For winger Vishal Yadav, who started in all four friendlies, the Bengaluru camp provided the team with the opportunity to work collectively towards the challenge ahead. “The camp is going really well so far. We are working together for the Qualifiers and putting in our best effort to be fully prepared for the three games ahead,” he said.
The friendlies helped them experiment different styles of play and learn playing patterns from opposition. That way, the Blue Colts could have found areas that they can improve on.
“The friendly matches gave us a chance to test ourselves against strong opposition, understand where we need to improve and gain confidence. Yemen, in particular, were good both with and without the ball. The matches were challenging both physically and tactically, which helped us prepare better for the upcoming competition,” said Yadav.
While the attack will be an area for further improvement, India's defensive consistency has been one of the most encouraging aspects of their Bengaluru preparations.
“We stuck to the game plan. We had a plan where the whole team had to attack and defend together. Based on our previous matches, we analysed a few things and made sure we made very limited mistakes at the back. As a whole team, we defended well. The objective was to defend as a team, and we defended as a team in all four games,” defender Sumit Sharma B said.India will open their qualifier campaign against Syria on August 31 at 16:30 IST. India will then face hosts Uzbekistan on September 3 at 19:30 IST before concluding their Group B campaign against Bangladesh on September 6 at 16:30 IST.
The group winners and the seven best second-placed teams across all eight groups will qualify for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2027.