'Asian Cup qualification a bare minimum for us', says Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is now in his 13th year of national team duty.

The most experienced player in the Indian squad after Sunil Chhetri's retirement, he completed a diamond jubilee of international caps (75) against Vietnam last month, wearing the captain's armband and crucially saving a penalty.

Currently training in Hyderabad with the Blue Tigers ahead of the friendly against Malaysia on November 18, Sandhu shared his thoughts on the preparations during a virtual media interaction on Wednesday.

"Everyone knows this is our last FIFA friendly window before the all-important Asian Cup Qualifiers in March. So, we need to make the most of this opportunity. We are happy to have a familiar face in Sandesh Jhingan coming back. It's great to see that he's recovered well and has already played a couple of games (for FC Goa)," he said.

"We have five more days of training before the Malaysia game, which is good because it allows us time to work together as a team and get used to the new system that is in place with our coach," said Sandhu," he added.

India faced Malaysia in the Merdeka Tournament last October in Kuala Lumpur, going down 2-4 in a fiercely contested game, which was the first time Sandhu played against the Southeast Asian side.

Sandhu believed that was an unlucky result for the Indians and the scoreline didn't justify the efforts.

However, the Blue Tigers are highly motivated to change that and add a green mark to the scoreline in Hyderabad this time.

"It was a different experience playing in Malaysia. They're a good side with a lot of new faces. We could have got something more out of that game. It was an unlucky result for us. But things like that happen in football. We have a clean board in front of us and we need to make sure that we get the best result at home," he said.

The goal right now is to qualify for a third successive AFC Asian Cup, which should be the bare minimum target for our team, according to Sandhu, who has been part of three Asian Cup squads (2011, 2019, and 2023).

"With every camp under Manolo, we're getting close to what he wants us to be as a team. I think qualifying is the minimum for us as a team that we should strive to do because we have done it already in the last two editions. This should be a no-brainer for us. So, let's keep our heads down and work for that target," he concluded.