India kick off their 2023 Intercontinental Cup campaign against Mongolia at the Kalinga Stadium in Odisha.
IND vs MGL Match Details
Date: Friday, 9 June 2023
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
IND vs MGL Viewing Details
The game between India and Mongolia will be telecasted on the Star Sports 2 Channel. Live streaming is available on Disney+ Hotstar and JioTV.
IND vs MGL Match Preview
The Intercontinental Cup returns after four years and it comes as a preparatory tournament this time, among a dozen games this year, for the senior men’s national team going to the Asian Cup next year. India will also go on to participate in the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru straight after this tournament which they won in 2018. While the inaugural edition was massively successful, the one a year later was not as the team finished at the bottom of their group collecting just a point. Igor Stimac will not wish for a repeat of it with a far more talented and balanced squad second time in this competition as a manager. The Blue Tigers face Mongolia in the opener of this edition before facing Vanuatu and Lebanon in the next two. This time the level of opposition are not so high therefore not winning the tournament will be a surprise and a disruption to their preparation for the main event in Qatar. The senior men’s team got off to a flyer in 2023 with wins over Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic in the Tri-national friendly, maintaining a five-game winning streak at home. Anirudh Thapa was the sole scorer in the first one while Sandesh Jhingan and Sunil Chhetri got on the scoresheet for the second win. India are now willing to extend that momentum on Friday.
Mongolia are the lowest FIFA-ranked nation, placed at 183, in the Intercontinental Cup and are playing their second game this year. In March, the Blue Wolves battled Georgia in an international friendly with Kvicha Kvaratskhelia on the opposition bench. While the Scudetto-winning star for Napoli did not take part in the action, his team smashed Mongolia 6-1 even though the visitors kept the score 1-1 at half-time. Unlike India, Mongolia are not in the Asian Cup having got eliminated in the first round of qualifiers for the tournament. Remarkably, the team managed by Ichiro Otsuka have not played any international friendlies so far in their history. This is partly due to the extreme weather conditions experienced by the country. Mongolia does play competitive games like the FIFA World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers and also the EAFF Championship. In that sense, the game against the Blue Tigers is historical for them. As usual, Mongolia will play for the love of the sport without any real pressure or expectations. Their strength might not be enough to pull off an upset against the hosts as they enjoy the occasion.
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IND: WWLDW
MGL: LWLLD
IND vs MGL Team News
The problem for the Blue Tigers is the number of injuries they have sustained during the camp. Vishal Kaith, Manvir Singh, Yasir Mohammad, Glan Martins, and Roshan Singh got cut off from the provisional squad. Sivasakthi Narayanan still has to wait for his first cap as he is ruled out with injury till September. The injured pair, Suresh Singh and Phurba Lachenpa also pulled out from the final squad. Despite that, the squad is stacked adequately in each position and the central midfield have options with Mumbai City FC duo Lalengmawia Ralte (Apuia) and Rowlin Borges returning to the national team.
The star attraction for the Mongolia squad is undoubtedly 22-year-old left winger Ganbold Ganbayar. He is an exciting prospect for his nation with his skillsets and having eye for goals. Ganbold could be someone India needs to take care of. Another prominent name in the squad is the 33-year-old lynchpin in midfield Tsend-Ayuush Khurelbaataryn. Also the captain of the side, he is the most experienced player in the squad. The team will benefit from his distribution from the middle of the park.
IND vs MGL Predicted Lineups
IND: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Rahul Bheke, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Akash Mishra; Anirudh Thapa, Jeakson Singh, Sahal Samad; Lallianzuala Chhangte, Sunil Chhetri, Nandha Kumar
MGL: Enkhtaivan Munkherdene; Dulguun Tuvshinjargal, Geret-Od Bat-Orgil, Baljinnyam Batbold, Bilguun Ganbold; Dolgoon Amaraa, Tsend-Ayuush Khurelbaataryn, Narmandakh Artag; Baljinnyam Batbold, Naranbold Nyam-Osor, Ganbold Ganbayar
IND vs MGL Head to head
This will be the first meeting between India and Mongolia in history.
IND vs MGL Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Gurpreet (7.5)
DEF: Kotal (8.5), Jhingan (9), B Ganbold (8.5)
MID: Thapa (9), Amaraa (8.5), Khurelbaatar (8.5), Sahal (7.5)
FW: Chhangte (7.5), Chhetri (9), G Ganbold (9)
Captain: Sunil Chhetri
Vice-captain: Anirudh Thapa
