Baichung Bhutia's injury is the worrying factor for an otherwise confident India, who will take on Singapore in Margao, Goa, on Wednesday, in a Group III tie of the Asian Zone qualifiers for the 2006 football World Cup.
"We are ready for Singapore. Our boys have been practising here [in Goa] for the last two weeks and are all fit. But the hamstring injury of Bhutia, who will be playing tomorrow, has been bothering me," coach Stephen Constantine told reporters on Tuesday.
The Indian team, which comprises mostly of members of the LG Cup-winning squad, has three new faces. The team played an exhibition match against National Football League leaders Dempo and won 3-0.
"We should collect full points from tomorrow's match and for this we need a full house to cheer our team," he said.
Commenting on I M Vijayan's decision to retire from international football, the coach said the player's absence would be sorely felt.
"One cannot go on playing for long and we have to respect his decision.
"We have young Ashim Biswas who can step into Vijayan's shoes and has already shown lot of potential by scoring goals in the SAFF and Afro-Asian Games," Constantine added.
Singapore will field a young side that includes two players of foreign origin -- striker Agu Casmie of Nigeria and David Bennett of England.
Singapore coach Radujko said he expects a close match tomorrow.
"Singapore recently participated in the Tiger Hill series where it lost both its matches against Norway and Iran. Though we lost it was good exposure for our team against superior sides. Our players are young and in the learning process," said Radujko.
On his plans to keep Bhutia in check, Radujko said: "Bhutia is a good player but we will not have any special plan for him as there are another ten players who are equally important."
Constantine, meanwhile, has urged the All Indian Football Federation to stop clubs from recruiting foreigners to play in the National Football League.
"The AIFF should ban foreigners in playing for various clubs in the NFL at least for two years. This is because we are not being able to find good forwards in India," he said.
Commenting on the FIFA rankings, which places India much below Singapore, Constantine said he is not bothered by it.
"It is the team's performance that will count on the given day. The team that plays better will win," he said.
