India take on Turkmenistan

Ashgabat, October 7

Languishing at the bottom of the group, India will take on Turkmenistan in a must-win match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup football qualifying round here tomorrow.

India, who are yet to open their account after losing their first three matches, are short on preparation. They reached here without any preparatory camp after losing 0-3 to Iran in Bangalore on September 8.

The players were released by their Indian Super League teams on Sunday evening. They landed here on Monday evening after a 16-hour flight to take on the central Asian nation in the Group D match in a do-or-die battle at the Kopetdag Stadium.

Stephen Constantine's boys, who are currently ranked 167th in the FIFA rankings, will find it tough against the home side, ranked 155th. India already have a very little chance of making the cut for the final round. A loss on Thursday will erase even the faintest hopes of advancing further in the qualifying round.

Constantine's boys, no doubt, lack in experience as many of them have played just a few international matches, but they have not done anything great by their own standard either as they lost 1-2 to Guam in their second match. They put up a gritty fight but were beaten by Oman (1-2) in the first match.

In their last match, India lost to Iran, Asia's highest ranked side, 0-3. — PTI