Igor Stimac: India's head coach wants his side to be hungry & motivated in Asian Cup qualifying opener | OneFootball

India men's national team head coach, Igor Stimac believes that his side are fully prepared for their opening game against Cambodia in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers - though he reiterated that the Blue Tigers need to hungry and motivated.

India have been in drawn in Group D of the qualifiers alongside Cambodia, Afghanistan and Hong Kong - with Stimac's side touted as the favourites to top their group and qualify for the main tournament.

Despite the favourite tag, the Croatian has warned his players not to take Cambodia lightly as they didn’t come here just to participate.

"I don’t look at the rankings and Cambodia didn’t come here just to participate. They came here with the same desire, to win the games. When India were 184 and 150, India did not go to participate, they did not go to lose, they went to win games. I will never say we’re going to be beating anyone easily. Because that wouldn’t do good in motivational aspect for my team. We need to be hungry for this and we need to be ready, we need to be fully motivated," he said on the eve of the game.