Indian Men’s Football Team after their heart-breaking exit in the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in June early this year will take on Mauritius in their opening match of the three nation Intercontinental Cup 2024 on Tuesday evening at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad.

Under their newly-appointed Head Coach Manolo Márquez and the absence of their effervescent skipper Sunil Chhetri's who scored 94 goals during his credit before announcing his retirement at 40, the defending champions India will hope the young turk’s including winger Lallianzuala Chhangte, who was named the AIFF Player of the Year earlier this year, will shoulder responsibility and carry forward the mantle of the Blue Tigers.

India who will be led by their new skipper Rahul Bheke, will be bolstered by the presence of Chinglensana Singh Konsham and Yasir Mohammad who are back for the first time since last year's Tri-Nation Series triumph. Defenders Asish Rai and Roshan Singh Naorem return after almost a year-long hiatus, while Kiyan Nassiri Giri, Lalthathanga Khawlhring and Prabhsukhan Singh Gill will be eyeing their senior India debut.

The long term target however will be the qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, which is set to begin in March 2025 in addition to retaining the Inter-Continental Cup scheduled between 3-9 September. Márquez has stressed on the importance of obtaining good results in the upcoming three FIFA International Match Windows so as to keep India's place in Pot 1 ahead of December's draw.

On the eve of the match Márquez will hope for a memorable start to his national team career with silverware in the city where he began his journey in Indian football. He felt that he will be able to better judge the quality of his squad when the season is up and running. The Intercontinental Cup provides a great dress rehearsal for the bigger task awaiting India, ranked 124 currently by FIFA,  in the coming year, the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. For now, playing a good brand of football and preparing for the future has more importance than results.

The Spanish based Indian Head Coach said, "The main target of playing these games in September, October and November is to prepare for the more important thing - the Asian Cup qualifiers, the first game of which is in March. The first FIFA window now is a little tricky because we are still in pre-season. Some clubs played with their reserve team in the Durand Cup. We don't exactly know the physical situation of all the players. That won't happen in the next FIFA windows because the ISL will be ongoing. But again, I think this is not an excuse. And we are ready for the tourney”.

Ranked 179th in the world, Mauritius are currently placed fifth in their six-team FIFA World Cup Qualifiers group in Africa, with four points in as many matches. It includes a couple of impressive results like a 2-1 home win over higher-ranked Eswatini in June and a 0-0 draw versus 90th-ranked Angola last November. However, they crashed out in the first round of the Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers following a 1-3 aggregate loss to Chad in March.

Syria, on the other hand, are the highest-ranked side in the Intercontinental Cup at 93rd. Like India, they have also undergone a change in coaching personnel. Former head coach Héctor Cúper resigned after failing to take Syria into the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. A last-minute defeat to Korea DPR and a 0-5 loss to Japan in June ended Syria's World Cup hopes. Former Spain youth international coach José Lana took charge as recently as on 22 August. For record Syria 1-0 win over India knocked out the then Igor Stimac’s Indian side from the AFC Asian Cup in January early this year.

Photo Above: Under their Navi Mumbai based new skipper Rahul Bheke (2^nd Row Extreme Right) the Indian Senior Men’s National Team will face Mauritius  in the opening match of Inter-Continental Cup 2024 (Photo courtesy The-AIFF)