India’s senior men’s national team played their first away game of 2023 against Iraq in the King’s Cup hosted by Thailand.
IRQ vs IND Match Details
Date: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Time: 16:00 (IST)
Venue: 700th Anniversary Stadium, Thailand
IRQ vs IND Match Preview
After winning an unprecedented treble on home soil in the form of the Tri-nation Cup, Intercontinental Cup and the SAFF Championship, India will now turn their attention to their first foreign tour of the year. They will compete in the King’s Cup carrying an unbeaten form this year with just two goals conceded and scoring 16 goals. However, their last away game ended in a 3-0 defeat to Vietnam. Other than the SAFF Championship in 2021 they have picked up disappointing results on foreign soil in the last few years.
The Blue Tigers are also without their skipper for the tour and also have a number of injury issues in the squad. So, head coach Igor Stimac will have a lot of challenges to tackle in the competition. He managed his first games as the boss of India’s men’s team. Last time, India managed a bronze medal finish and will hope to go better this time. Facing a tough opposition in Iraq in the semifinals will be a huge task with so many concerns plaguing the squad.
India (99) will face the highest-ranked team in the competition (70) desperate to hold on to the positivity they created so far. Iraq’s head coach Jesus Casas and old mate to Stimac said India will not be easy to battle against. But with no wins and just a draw to show in this meeting so far, the pressure will be very much on the Blue Tigers. The winners of the tie will face Lebanon or hosts Thailand in the final while the losers will get to play the bronze match.
IRQ vs IND Team News
Iraq has no injury concerns till now but India has to deal with huge injury blows ahead of the opener. Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh and left-back Subhasish Bose have not travelled with the squad despite being named in the final squad. Akash Mishra has also suffered a broken arm which means right-back Asish Rai will be forced to switch flank as there is no other option to fill the left-back. To add to that, Lallianzuala Chhante is ruled out with fever. Captain Sunil Chhetri has omitted himself from the tournament after becoming a father recently. Back in the squad, Manvir Singh will lead the line in his place.
IRQ vs IND Predicted Lineups
IRQ: Jalal Hassan; Hussein Ali, Masies Artien, Frans Putros, Ali Adnan; Ibrahim Bayesh, Amir Al-Ammari, Osama Rashid, 9Zidane Iqbal; Ali Al-Hamadi, Aymen Hussein
IND: Gurpreet Singh; Nikhil Poojary, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Asish Rai; Rahul KP, Anirudh Thapa, Jeakson Singh, Sahal Samad, Ashique Kuruniyan; Manvir Singh
IRQ vs IND Head to Head
Games Played: 6
IRQ won: 5
Draw: 1
IND won: 0
IRQ vs IND Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Gurpreet Singh (Cr - 7.5)
DEF: Jhingan (Cr - 8.5), Anwar (Cr - 8), Adnan (Cr - 7.5)
MID: Bayesh (Cr - 9), Thapa (Cr - 9), Sahal (Cr - 8.5), Z Iqbal (Cr - 8), A Kuruniyan (Cr - 8.5)
FW: Hussein (Cr - 9), Manvir (Cr - 8)
Vice-captain: Manvir Singh
Captain: Anirudh Thapa
