India to play friendly against Zambia in Doha | OneFootball

The Indian national football team will play against Zambia in an international friendly in Doha on May 25 as part of the Blue Tigers' upcoming AFC Asian Cup China 2023's final round of qualifiers in Kolkata on June 8.

The Blue Tigers have been in Igor Stimac's national team camp since April 23 and will also be playing two more friendlies, one with the Bengal Santosh Trophy team and one against an All-Star XI from the Hero I-League.

India already played against ISL side ATK Mohun Bagan in a friendly on Wednesday.

The AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round will be held across three match days on June 8, 11 and 14, 2022, with the group winners, and the best five second-placed teams earning a ticket to the Asian Cup in China which is slated to kick-off on June 16, 2023.

Meanwhile, Igor Stimac earlier expressed belief that his squad has enough quality to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.

“We are the favourites from our group, and we’re not hiding from that. We want to go to this group and qualify for the Asian Cup. I see India going to the final stages. What I am interested in is the final result, that we should qualify. I don’t mind how many goals we score, or what the results were, as long as we qualify. Of course, if we score a lot, that will be good, but the main aim is to qualify," he said at a press conference.

“We’re not under pressure, because we know what to do. Yes, there are certain expectations on our team, but I’m quite confident that we can do it. We have enough quality in the team to make sure that we qualify," the Croatian added.