India looking repeat win over UAE

The spotlight will once again be on Baichung Bhutia as the Indian captain leads his team against the UAE in a crucial Asian Zone Group 8 encounter in the World Cup qualifying tournament at Al Ain, seeking to make it to the second phase for the first time.

Bhutia, who was instrumental in India's fantastic 1-0 win over the UAE in the home encounter in Bangalore and scored the Indian goal in the draw against Yemen, is the pivot around who Indian hopes will revolve when they take on UAE, Yemen and Brunuei in their three away matches.

Thursday's match against the UAE is the most important of the three, as a win will not only boost Indian morale but also give them a psychological edge against the lower-ranked Yemen and Brunei.

India play Yemen on May 4 and Brunei on May 12.

The 27-member Indian contingent, which arrived at Al Ain, near Dubai, on Monday evening, had a practice session on Wednesday morning under the watchful eyes of coach Sukhwinder Singh.

"I have studied the UAE squad very carefully through video tapes and that supplied me with good and enough information on the strong and weak points of the team. I will play the match with most of the players that played in Bangalore," Sukhwinder Singh said.

"We respect our rivals who might enjoy the advantage of playing at home. But this situation would not threaten my players who have good experience and know how to face their opponents when playing away," the coach said.

Captain Bhutia hopes his team will repeat the Bangalore win though he conceded "it is a fifty-fifty chance".

On the other hand, the hosts, stung by their shock defeat at Bangalore, are leaving nothing to chance and practicing very hard to reverse the result.

The team had an extensive training session on Wednesday under their French coach, Henry Michel, who said all his 20 players are in top shape.

"Our main objective is to win the three points. There isn't any chance to make mistakes again," Michel said.

"After we lost to India in our first match, we found that we must win the remaining 15 points from the five matches. We got three points last week from Brunei and if we take three tomorrow, then we need nine points to qualify for the second round," he said.