Coronavirus pandemic has destroyed India's pre-season plans, asserts Igor Stimac

Much was expected from India in the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers, with the Blue Tigers pitted in a group alongside likes of Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Oman, and Asian champions Qatar. Even though India managed to hold Qatar to a draw, they’ve failed to log full points in each of their rest four matches so far. With the remainder of the qualifiers on hold due to the health crisis, there’s no clarity on when Sunil Chhetri and Co. would be in action once again.

On the other hand, Igor Stimac revealed that they were scheduled for pre-season camps to Turkey and Croatia in April and May and slated to play ten friendly matches, but as of now, the plans have been ‘destroyed,’ by the pandemic situation.

“The pandemic has destroyed the plans we had made which were accepted by both the government and the AIFF. We were to go on pre-season training camps to Turkey and Croatia in April and May and we were supposed to play ten friendly games,” said Igor Stimac, as reported by Wion.

“We are now using this time to improve the education of our players including theoretical points and I am very happy that the players are all following individual training plans that we have sent them and communicating daily on our team groups,” added the manager.