Yangon, March 27: The Indian football team will look to starting their Asian Cup campaign on a high when they take on Myanmar in a Group A tie here on Tuesday, March 28.
Kick off: 5:00 PM (IST)
Match will be telecasted live on DD Sports
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For the final round of qualifying, Stephen Constantine's team has been drawn alongside Kyrgyzstan and AFC Solidarity Cup runners-up Macau and begin their attempt to qualify for the finals with a trip to Yangon.
"It sounds easy to say let's get one system in place, but that has to go out into the districts, the villages, the towns and we have 36 state associations and some of those state associations are larger than countries in Europe," e said.
"Logistically and to get the word out it takes that much more time to do, but I think in the last two years we have seen the senior national team come on, our u-17s are going to be hosting the World Cup, and that's a massive event for any country and a great honour.
"There's so much interest in Indian football and academies are springing up all over the place and while they may not be all be doing the right thing the interest is there now for football in India. It's a question of trying to get things all aligned and that takes some time," he added.
Constantine said qualification for the finals in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 would give the game in India another boost and vindicate the approach currently being taken to improve the sport in the country.
"I think whenever you qualify for a major event it's a sign you're doing things the right way and for India to qualify for the Asian Cup would be a huge thing," he said.
"Given the state of our football, we have the league and the domestic leagues are ok, but they're not at the same stage as China or Korea Republic or Iran, UAE those kind of countries.
"We've got a long way to go. But qualifying for the Asian Cup is a huge step in the right direction and it gives everybody that impetus to keep pushing on and I think qualifying for those major events is what we need to be trying to do on a more regular basis," the coach added.
India are coming into the game on the back of a 3-2 win against Cambodia but they were far from convincing.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and co will have to step up against a side who come into the game with a 1-3 win over Indonesia, a team ranked higher than them in the rankings.
The Asian team have dropped some 30 places on the ladder in the last month alone, but they are expected to make strong gains in the coming period.
Predicted lineups
India (4-2-3-1): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Fulganzo Cardozo; Rowlin Borges, Eugeneson Lyngdoh; Jackichand Singh, Sunil Chhetri, CK Vineeth; Robin Singh.
Australia (4-2-3-1): Thiha Sithu; David, Min Htut, Phyo Ko Ko, Tha Win; Nang Do, Aung Kyaw; Maung Lwin, Myo Ko Tun, Kyaw Ko Ko; Aungh Thu.
Prediction
Myanmar 1-1 India
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