Team Will Play To Win: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: A day ahead of the crucial match, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stressed the team will “play to win,” and aim to start the qualifying campaign with three points.

“That’s what we do — we play to win,” the Arjuna Awardee Gurpreet said to the AIFF website. “We will play to our strengths, and look to keep the opposition at bay. Hopefully, we can get off to a good start and pick up the maximum points to start off the qualifiers.”

The last time the two teams faced off was in a friendly game in December 2018 where the match ended in a goalless draw in Abu Dhabi. Taking a trip down memory lane to that match, Gurpreet admitted the team drew a lot of positives from the result, but at the same time, it is vital to “focus on the job ahead.”

“Of course, it is good to keep in mind what happened when we last faced Oman. However, it is also important to focus on the job ahead of us. We need to make sure we put on a good show in front of our home crowd in Guwahati,” he said.

The Blue Tigers proceed to the match on back of a preparatory camp in Goa which kicked-off on August 20. The team has also played 5 International matches as build-up to the tournament since Head Coach Igor Stimac took over.

“A lot has changed, we have a new squad, new set of players and a different coach. On the pitch, we are trying to implement the style of play asked by the coach and put our best foot forward. Off the pitch, it has been pretty much the same, which is a good thing as you want to continue the good things that have been happening off the field.”

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