Left with hardly any time for training ahead of their Asian Games opener against hosts China, Indian men’s football team head coach expects his side to open the tournament with a good fight. At the same time, the Croatian also indicated that the two senior-most players of the squad — Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jhingan – may not be in the starting XI on every occasion in Hangzhou.

In the build-up to the continental meet, officially starting September 23, the Indian men’s football team’s preparations have been caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between the All India Football Federation and the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs, with the latter refusing to let their acquisitions take part in the Asian Games. The ISL starts September 21, and quite understandably most clubs are in the process of giving final touches to their preparation.

However, after much back-and-forth, the clubs decided to let some of their players travel to China. While the new squad is vastly different from the originally named last month, the last-minute agreements for Jhingan to travel, and for Chinglensana Singh and Lalchungnunga to be added to the squad, has added balance to the side. Captain Chhetri, Jhingan and Chinglensana will be the three overaged players allowed in the squad that mostly comprises the exciting U23 talents.

China’s U23 side beat India 2-1 in a dramatic clash at Dalian earlier this month in the AFC U23 qualifiers, but the Indian side now is different to the one that played in that game. India will also fancy their chances against both Bangladesh and Myanmar, and wins against the two nations will confirm their entry in the Round of 16.

“There is no reason to look back now. It’s time to focus on what can be done within our power to open the tournament with a good fight. We cannot expect more. More importantly, I will need to approach this very carefully and discuss with the players about their physical conditions,” Stimac said.

“What morale and which camp? The players are coming at 5-6pm today at the airport. We meet there and then have a 10pm flight to Hong Kong. We will reach HK at 7am tomorrow morning, then wait 5-6 hours there for another flight to Hangzhou. (We) will reach afternoon just around 5pm – no single training session prior to the game. What we need to do is make sure that what needs to be discussed with the players is done at the airport and during the flights so they can rest when we get there (to China).

“Having two days’ preparation prior to big games never served us well…It’s obvious how India is different when there is a long camp versus a short camp,” he added.

Stimac indicated that both the senior players (Sunil and Sandesh) could be rested for the opening fixture. The Statesman understands that the coach must be thinking from a broader perspective on managing the senior players’ fatigue, keeping in mind the possibility of India facing stronger opponents in the Round of 16, and more importantly the FIFA World Cup qualifiers next month.

“I’m not thinking about China to be honest. I’m thinking about Bangladesh and Myanmar. So do not be surprised if I leave Sandesh and Sunil out for the first game,” he said.

“We need to be very clever – do we invest all our energy (not much of it will be left after the first game) or do we just skip over that and prepare the best of what we have for the following two games which might take us to the elimination rounds?”

“Sunil missed a whole pre-season with the team. And he’s been involved in the training sessions for just the last couple of weeks. So I will not put our whole country into the danger of losing Sunil Chetri ahead of the World Cup qualifiers,” Stimac said.

Stimac’s original squad request had senior national team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu along with several experienced U-24 players. But thanks to the tussle between the AIFF and ISL, the current group has several names who are fringe players in the ISL or yet to play in the top division.