2022 World Cup Qualifiers: Igor Stimac’s India is preparing to tour Qatar in a tough game, and the tough test is waiting for them.

Since November 2019, the Indian national football team will fully participate in their first game when they travel to Qatar to participate in the remaining three games of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

The Blues Tigers will play host Qatar on June 3, Afghanistan on June 7 and Bangladesh on June 11. India is currently ranked fourth in the standings. From the remaining schedule, they will hope to collect as many points as possible and finish the third place so that they can automatically qualify for the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.

The soldiers of Igor Stimac will travel to Qatar during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is a difficult task for the team and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), especially since the second wave of coronavirus has hit India hard.

India’s challenge before the World Cup qualifiers

The biggest headache for the Croatian coach is to select and build a completely suitable team for the qualifiers.Except for FC Goa and Bengaluru FC players (who participated in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup qualifiers respectively in April), most Indian players last played in February or March

As a result, Stimac no longer selects teams based on merit, but must integrate with the most suitable players.

The Indian team to be selected will only receive limited practice before confronting the Qatari giants. As the blockade has been implemented in several areas of India, it is impossible for AIFF to arrange training courses for the team in India before the trip.

For passengers from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, whether traveling through direct flights or through other countries (transit), the following measures will be taken, including:

• All passengers initially departing from the aforementioned countries/regions must undergo a mandatory COVID-19 PCR test conducted 48 hours before departure at a testing center approved by their local health authority. Without a valid negative PCR certificate, no one can board a flight to Qatar.
• All entrants from these countries/regions must be quarantined in a dedicated quarantine facility for (10) days, or (14) days if they are quarantined in a Mekhaines facility.
• Home quarantine standards do not apply to travelers from these countries, including exemptions restored due to vaccination or previous virus infection in the past six months.
• All entrants from these countries must undergo repeated COVID-19 PCR tests at quarantine facilities within one day of arrival. Know that the PCR test will be repeated at and before the end of the quarantine period.
• All passengers transiting through Qatar must undergo the mandatory pre-travel PCR test described in point 1, and if they need to conduct another PCR test on their continued destination, they can do it at Hamad International Airport at a cost of QAR 300 /-each test.

Following such a busy agreement, Stimac may only receive three to four days of training before India faces the host country.

From the perspective of football players, the 2020/21 season of the Indian Premier League (ISL) has been very busy because they had to stay in the biological bubble for nearly six months. For players of Goa and Bangalore football clubs, this period has been extended for another month.

As a greeting of national duties, the players will now have to enter the bubble again for a month. And most football players have not had the opportunity to train properly in the past month or so.

India’s journey in the qualifiers so far

India’s first game was a 2-1 defeat by Oman, and then a historic draw against Asian champions Qatar in Doha. In their third and fourth games, the Blue Tigers drew 1-1 against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively, and then they defeated 1-0 in the away game against Oman.

India’s recent results

In March, India went to Dubai, UAE to play two friendly matches with Oman and the host. On March 25, India equalized Oman with a 1-1 score, but faced a 6-0 defeat in the UAE match on March 29.