India aim for improved performance against Belarus in second international football friendly

Manama: A close 1-2 defeat against Bahrain in their previous match notwithstanding, India would look to dish out an improved show against higher-ranked Belarus in their second international football friendly on Saturday. Six players could not accompany the team that left Mumbai on Monday due to visa issues but they reached on the day of the Bahrain match on Wednesday, with only Anirudh Thapa and Aniket Jadhav being able to play in that game against the hosts, that too in the second half. But against Belarus, head coach Igor Stimac is expected to use the services of Indian Super League-winning side Hyderabad FC defender Chinglensana Singh as well as midfield lynchpin Brandon Fernandes, who were among the six who landed on Wednesday. Sandesh Jhingan and Chinglensana have formed a formidable centre-back pairing for the Blue Tigers in the past and they are expected to team up at the deep defence against Belarus, who are ranked 10 places above India at 94th. But Stimac will be without the services of another defender, Mumbai City’s Rahul Bheke, who scored India’s lone goal against Bahrain. Stimac had earlier said that three Mumbai City players will leave Manama after the Bahrain match for their side’s AFC Champions League preparations. Another Mumbai City player Bipin Singh, however, did not travel to Manama. He was one of the seven players who did not accompany the team due to visa issues and there was no point for him to travel to Manama to reach on match day (against Bahrain) and then return back. Stimac gave international debut to five players — Anwar Ali, Danish Farooq, VP Suhair, Aniket and Roshan Singh — in the match against Bahrain and he is expected to hand Kerala Blasters defender Ruivah Hormipam his first match in India colours against Belarus. He is expected to field Jeakson Singh also against Belarus as he tries out as many players who did not get game time against Bahrain. The coach had said that he would give game-time to almost all the 25 players —- save the goalkeepers — in the two friendly matches in Manama to check out various combinations ahead of the Asian Cup final round qualifiers in June in Kolkata. Stimac had, however, hinted that goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu will play in both the friendly matches as he wanted stability in that crucial position as India will not be playing too many matches before the Asian Cup qualifiers. “There will be some big changes for the Belarus game. I want to introduce a new team with fresh faces and energy which will give us more stability in the passing front,” Stimac said ahead of the match. “Friendly games are the best opportunity to give players the chance to perform, and I believe if you don’t take risks, you will never succeed,” he added. Stimac said he want his players to be brave enough to take risks. “They need to understand to react more once they lose a ball,” he said. For Belarus, this would be their first international friendly match this year. In the past year, they have played against some higher-ranked teams like world’s top ranked team Belgium, Wales (20th) and Czech Republic (31st). Their last match was a 1-0 win against Jordan in November last year. India’s match against Belarus was, in fact, in doubt initially as the All India Football Federation wanted to avoid playing against the East European country in view of its support to Russia in the Ukraine invasion. The world governing body FIFA had banned Russia from international matches but had not done so against Belarus. Talking about Belarus, Stimac said, “Belarus are a very well-known opposition to me. They are much more technical than Bahrain. They have recently played against higher ranking teams such as Belgium and Wales. “They play much more defensive and counter-attacking football. But I don’t see them being that much defensive against us,” Stimac said. Match Starts 9:30 pm IST. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram