India vs Guam Match Preview

India vs Guam Match Preview

India will play Guam on 16th June in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier. India lost their first match of their group to Oman while Guam defeated Turkmenistan. India, ranked 141 will need to put in their best efforts against the Guam who are ranked 174th, as India will be looking forward to their first win not only in Group D but also in the Pacific region.

"It was a very long trip. We spent a lot of time in the air and it was very tiring," Constantine said in a release after travelling 16 hours to reach Guam.

"The body needs to adapt to the different surroundings, the jet lag is always there and obviously, there's a change in the time zone as well. But it was very important to train," Constantine added.

"We did some core stability exercises, some running and lots of stretching. The reason for that was that we didn't want the players to go to sleep immediately and wanted all to get a good sleep in the time frame where we are." He further added

"It was a nice session. It's an artificial surface and we worked the ball around getting a feel of the pitch. It's important that we adjust to everything, and fast." He further said.

Guam beat Turkmenistan 1 – 0 whereas Oman beat India 2 – 1 in their opening World Cup qualifying matches.

"We are not in a position to look at the FIFA Rankings. Guam having won their last match against Turkmenistan is going to be encouraged, stay motivated and be ready to play," Constantine said. Constantine has appointed striker Sunil Chhetri as the captain for the match, who stressed on taking "one match at a time." "If you take one match at a time, the target stays lesser. So right now, we have moved on from our last match and are focussing on Guam," The Indian national football team coach said.

Upon being asked about Guam, the Indian skipper said "Guam has definitely improved a lot from the last time we played them. On the surface one didn't give them much of a chance against Turkmenistan but this squad is a different side altogether. Their win speaks volumes of the improvement and we have huge respect for Guam.”