Big ask for India against N Korea

India have a Herculean task on hand, when they take on North Korea in their second-round Group E pre-Olympic qualifying match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

India have a Herculean task on hand, when they take on North Korea in their second-round Group E pre-Olympic qualifying match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

India’s two losses coming against Iraq (away) and Thailand (home) have reduced their chances to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year. The only bright spot in India’s qualification campaign was against Myanmar (won 5-4) in Kolkata, which helped them to enter the second-stage after 12 years.

One of the major tasks of the current coach Colin Toal will be to strengthen India’s defence, which has looked shaky. “We’ll try to play good football. Saikh (Tariff Ahmed) will replace Sushil (Kumar Singh) and Subhas (Chakraborty) will play from the beginning. We all hope to give a good fight against North Korea. We’re looking to improve on our past performances.”

In the earlier matches, North Korea defeated Thailand 1-0 in Pyongyang last month and drew Iraq (2-2) in their home match. Korea jointly lead the group with Iraq on four points from two matches.

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