India head coach Khalid Jamil made his intention abundantly clear ahead of the match against Hong Kong, China: his boys will settle for nothing less than a win in the final round of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers in Kochi on Tuesday.
«We have been waiting (anxiously) for the match. We are very lucky to be in Kerala. We will need the support of the fans to continue. We are out but we have to finish on a good note,» he said on the eve of the match.
Jamil, who has a rather careless appearance, was as usual blunt about the team’s current status – unceremoniously exiting the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifying race – and also acknowledged the need for more clinical forwards since Sunil Chhetri.
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«We need to build (more strikers). I agree that the quality of strikers is an issue (since Sunil Chhetri), but we have alternatives in Rahim (Ali), Manvir (Singh), Farukh (Choudhary) and of course (Ryan) Williams. And depending on the match situations we will use them,» Jamil added.
Both India and Hong Kong are out of the qualifying race, making the clash a dead rubber, but the Blue Tigers do have points to settle sd5JKm.
When the two sides last met, Hong Kong struck the winner in second-half stoppage time, denting India’s rising qualifying spirit under then coach Manolo Marquez, who was shown the door after the match.
About India’s opponent, Jamil said, «Hong Kong has done well. They have some players in their camp and a new coach. But we don’t have much information about them. So we have to think about our team and that has to be the best for us,» he said.
Published on March 30, 2026
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