National football coach Wim Koevermans today said players from Churchill Brothers and East Bengal, who are currently busy with club commitments, will need to "recover fast and stay fresh" for the upcoming AFC Challenge Cup 2014 (Qualifiers) here.
"The boys from Churchill Brothers and East Bengal couldn't arrive together with the group, courtesy the AFC Cup schedule. They need to recover fast and stay fresh," Koevermans said.
The national team members from Churchill Brothers and East Bengal are representing their respective clubs in the Asian Football Federation's second tier continental competition.
Koevermans believed that acclimatisation is important for such tournaments as they involve frequent travelling.
"The idea stays to get enough rest to overcome and adjust after the hectic travel schedules. Travelling is tiring and takes its toll, especially if you travel to a different time zone. Hence, acclimatisation is important. The boys have adjusted superbly so far and we even had a light practice session on the first afternoon."
Koevermans said the team's entire focus is on the opening encounter, on March 2, against Chinese Taipei.
"The sessions were of very high intensity and everyone adjusted well. At the moment we are focusing on Chinese Taipei. It's the first game of the tournament and a really important one for us," the Dutchman said.
"We take every opposition seriously. In a build-up to a match, we need to analyse our rival teams and stay 100 percent prepared. We need to see the players, their qualities, their strengths and weaknesses and prepare accordingly," he added.
Asked whether injuries to Arnab Mondal and Sandesh Jhingan during the preparatory camp would affect team's plan, Koevermans said: "Unfortunately injuries are always a part of any training camp. They were freak ones but we need to move on. That's why we called for a bigger group of players.
"Even after Sandesh (Jhingan) was ruled out, we called for an extra defender (Rowilson Rodrigues) to ensure we had enough quality players for the tournament.
