The Indian football team takes the field for the first time under the guidance of new English coach Bob Houghton when it meets a local club side at the Vancouver Whitecaps Nations Cup in Vancouver on Wednesday.
After taking over last month, Houghton, who has previous coaching experience with the national sides of China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, conducted a three-week long camp in Goa, and selected a 20-member squad for the tour from the 35 players who attended the stint.
In the absence of star striker Baichung Bhutia, who did not attend the camp, asking to be excused from national duty, the team will be led by Mahindra United midfielder Shanmugam Venkatesh, who wore the captain's armband before the ace goal-poacher returned to the side for the SAF Cup in Karachi late last year.
With the Mohun Bagan stalwart missing from the line-up, the Indian forwardline sports a weakened look and the responsibility of finding the net will fall on the Kolkata outfit's Sushil Kumar Singh, JCT Mills' talented Sunil Chetri and Freddy Mascarenhas of Churchill Brothers.
In another match in the tournament, Cardiff City FC take on the China Under-20 national team on July 21. The winners will play the final, while the two other teams will contest the 3rd place play-off.
For India, the tournament will be useful preparation and stock-taking ahead of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia in Kolkata on August 16 and defending champions Japan in Bangalore on October 11.
The major outing for the team would be the Doha Asian Games in December, which would serve as a marker for the progress the team has made in the six months under Houghton's charge.
"This is the best available talent I had in hand to choose and I hope the Vancouver tour will help the boys to settle down quickly to the right formation and fitness level ahead of the Asian Cup qualifying matches against Saudi Arabia and Japan later this year," Houghton said.
