His team may have already made the finals of next year’s Asian Cup but Indian football team head coach Stephen Constantine, who presided over an unbeaten run of 13 internationals, today asked his players to remain focused, having endured a ‘difficult’ qualification. India play Kyrgyz Republic in an inconsequential away game on March 27.

“We have already qualified and will have to be very careful to maintain our focus and try to get the three points,” Constantine said.

“They are a very good side and we can expect a similar game as we had against them in Bengaluru. They have good quality all over the field but so do we. They also have the home advantage this time around.”

Compared to India’s last qualification in the 2011 edition, the Briton said, “I think it has been huge and when you look at the manner we qualified this time round, it has been very difficult.

“We played the play-offs for the World Cup qualifiers, the group stages for the WC Qualifiers, the play-offs for the Asian Cup qualifiers and the group stages again. The last time we qualified was in an eight-nation competition in India and so it doesn’t compare.”

The coach said he is going to miss a few important players next week. “We always play to win. We have, however, a number of players who are out for the match. Sunil Chhetri is serving a double yellow booking, Eugeneson Lyngdoh is injured and so are Jackichand Singh and Nikil Poojary.”

Missing the duo of Chhetri and Eugeneson will be a factor for the Englishman. “Yes, of course. Both are experienced players. The list is long and you need to add Jackichand (Singh), Nikhil (Poojary) and Sumeet Passi to it too. But this is football and the players replacing them should look at this as an opportunity to make an impression.

“We have a long way to go before the Asian Cup Finals and a lot can happen between now and the finals. In between we have the Intercontinental Cup, the SAFF Championship, the Asian Games and the FIFA International dates as well. There’s also a lot of football to be played at the domestic level,” Constantine said.

The Blue Tigers are on 13 points after five games, having won four and drawn one. Both India and Kyrgyz Republic have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup.

(With inputs from PTI)