When India step onto the field at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday to take on Macau in a 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier game, Stephen Constantine and his charges know that a win is enough for them to seal a berth in the tournament.
After Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar drew on Tuesday, India are already five points clear at the summit of Group A and a win is enough to guarantee them a top-two spot which will seal their automatic entry to the 2019 continental extravaganza.
India have a perfect record in the group so far, winning all three of their games so far and have not conceded a single goal, scoring four in the process. Against Macau, who are yet to notch a single point in three games and to boot have not scored a goal yet, India are expected to ease to a win at home.
It included a 2-0 loss to India in the previous round where Balwant Singh scored twice and Macau, ranked 182nd in the world, are not expected to produce miracles on Wednesday and make India wait before they achieve their primary aim of qualification.
In that particular game, Macau were highly defensive, hoping to eke out a draw and their strategy is not expected to any different on Wednesday as well. India's challenge will be to break through the Macau defensive line which will be very deep.
India have not been starting their recent games well, something which will be of concern to Constantine. India will need to be at their creative best against Macau, given their overtly defensive approach to the game.
However, with almost a full-strength squad at his disposal, Stephen Constantine will be supremely confident of putting it past Macau and sealing an early qualification. India should line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Chhetri operating behind Jeje Lalpekhlua or Balwant Singh while Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika will marshall the defence.
As far as Macau Head coach Chan Hiu Ming is concerned, a point will be a great achievement and expect him to set his team up in a 3-5-2 formation. However, at least 10 players are expected to be behind the ball to make it hard for India to find spaces behind their defence, like they found out for much of the first half in the previous game in Macau.
"We have worked on our strategies. Yes, we struggled there. We had to work hard to penetrate them. In no way, we can take them lightly. We did work on our mistakes and I hope we'll implement them on the pitch tomorrow," captain Sunil Chhetri said ahead of the game.
Will India seal a direct route to the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1984 on Wednesday? A nation, already on a high following the India U17 team's exploits in the U17 World Cup, will be watching on expectantly.
Kickoff is at 7:30pm IST.
Probable lineups:
