AFC Asian Cup: Sunil Chhetri and Indian Football Team Get Rousing Welcome from Fans | WATCH

The Indian men’s football team got a rousing welcome in Qatar, as the Sunil Chhetri and co. landed in Doha for the AFC Asian Cup.

The Indian Super League (ISL) social handle shared a video from the Manjappada, which shows multitudes of fans gathering at the airport to cheer on the Blue Tigers.

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Igor Stimac had earlier announced India’s 26-member squad for the AFC Asian Cup, which kicks off in Doha on January 12. The Blue Tigers have been drawn into Group B alongside Australia, Uzbekistan, and Syria.

Expecting great support from the Indian fans in Qatar, Stimac said, “I’m looking forward to seeing our Indian fans in Doha. They came in massive numbers to support the Indian team during the qualifiers, and that was one of the reasons why we had two great performances against Qatar here. So, I’m well aware that there will be massive support for our boys. Hopefully, we can pay them back and celebrate some good results.”

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Ahead of India’s fifth appearance in the Asian Cup, Srimac said: “The things we are looking to work on are defensive compactness, offensive transitions, and the set pieces, mostly. It will be very important to work on man-marking inside the box because I was not happy with that part of our game. In the last few games, we started leaking some unnecessary goals inside the box.”

“All three of our opponents are very good technically, physically stronger with great speed. So, we are not going to have much difference in approach to all these three games, I can tell you that. We need to check the fitness level of our players at present and see how much we can develop in the next two weeks,” he added.