Indian football team off to Abu Dhabi

The Indian football team, led by Baichung Bhutia, on Monday left for Abu Dhabi for their clash with the UAE on April 26, in the Asian Zone Group 8 World Cup preliminary competition, with coach Sukhvinder Singh confident of performing well.

The fixture against the UAE, India's first away engagement, is considered very important to further their pursuit of entering the second phase of the Asian Zone qualifying round for the first time.

In their two home matches, India had beaten the formidable UAE 1-0, but were a disappointed lot after drawing with Yemen, ranked much below them in the FIFA rankings, 1-1, earlier this month.

After the April 26 encounter against the UAE, the Indian team will return and proceed to Sana'a to cross swords with Yemen, on May 4. The final away match will pit India against Brunei on May 12.

India will play their final group engagement against Brunei at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Bangalore on May 20.

Only one team from Group 8, featuring the UAE, India, Yemen and Brunei will go through to the second phase.

"We have already beaten them (the UAE) once. I did not find any of their players outstanding...we are confident of doing well," Sukhvinder said before leaving via Bombay.

His view was echoed by key players Bhutia and I M Vijayan.

Sukhvinder said while the UAE would be seeking to avenge their defeat, his boys will go all out to stop them, noting that their opponents are not as good as billed in set-piece moves.

Strikers Bhutia and Vijayan said the players trained very hard and are confident of a good show.