India football coach Stephen Constantine believes there is no reason to "underestimate" Macau, their next opponent in the forthcoming AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match to be held on September 5.
India currently stay on top of Group A with 6 points, courtesy back to back victories against Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic.
"Macau will be playing at home and in front of their home crowd. There's always a marked difference between playing at home and playing an away match but we are aware of the challenge," Constantine said.
Six players from India's AFC U-23 campaign in Doha have been named in the 24-member squad for India's match against Macau.
The squad will be departing for Macau from Mumbai via Bangkok on Friday.
The team has been camping in Mumbai since August 12, 2017 during which they played two International matches against Mauritius and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Tri-nation Football series as part of the preparation.
"The matches provided us the much needed match practice ahead of our challenge against Macau," Constantine mentioned.
Legendary footballer IM Vijayan, who will also be travelling to Macau as an observer, said the "team looks to be in great shape."
"The body language is positive but ahead of such matches, there's always a tendency of taking it a bit lightly against lower ranked opponents. The boys need to keep working hard on the ground against Macau," he stated.
The squad for Macau is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subrata Paul, Albino Gomes.
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Arnab Mondal, Salam Ranjan Singh, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala.
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Md. Rafique, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Halicharan Narzary.
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