By IANS
Dubai : Indian footballers will take on Dubai’s A-division team Al Nasr in a practice match on Monday. The Indian team is in Dubai training for their 2010 World Cup qualifier matches against Lebanon on Oct 8 and 24.
Al Nasr is one of the premier local teams and with the UAE Division 1 taking a three-week break, the Indians have arranged a practice match with them.
Indian coach Bob Houghton is confident his team can score over Lebanon and move into the next round.
“We have shown that we are capable of playing and winning against better sides such as Syria. I think we can beat Lebanon too,” Houghton told the Dubai-based Gulf News.
“We needed to get some wins to bring in a new winning attitude into the side. We achieved this goal with our performance in the Nehru Cup last month,” he added.
“We got five good games during the Nehru Cup due to the league format of the competition. And the best thing was that we kept on improving with each game. With the wins came a new confidence in the players and we need to live off this confidence in our next assignments,” Houghton stated.
Meanwhile, Houghton got a boost as the Mahindra United players who were in action in last week’s AFC Cup game against Beirut outfit Al Nejmeh are also due to join the squad in Dubai.
“We’ve had our share of problems such as injuries to key players like Mahesh (Gawli) and Climax (Lawrence),” said the Englishman. “But they are back now for the camp. And the best thing is that Baichung Bhutia is looking much better this year after stopping playing for the national team last season,” he told the newspaper.