TEAM INDIA WILL FACE Curacao in the first round of King's Cup in Thailand next month.
In a draw of lots held in Bangkok, Thailand today, the Blue Tigers were drawn against the Caribbean island nation.
The match will take place on 5th June 2019, at 3:30 pm local time. On the same day, hosts Thailand will face Vietnam in the evening. The winner of both matches will face each other in the tournament finale, while the losers will play for the third place match on 8th June.
All matches will be held at the Chang Arena in Buriram, Thailand.
Curacao are the highest ranked country in the tournament, presently placed at 82nd in the FIFA rankings. They won the Caribbean Cup in 2017 and have several players who ply their trade in European top flight leagues including midfielder Leandro Bacuna (Cardiff City), goalkeeper Eloy Room (PSV Eindhoven) and defender Darryl Lachman (PEC Zwolle). Overall, 17 players in their recently assembled squad play in European clubs.
Curacao went undefeated in 2018, and earned a significant victory over Bolivia (current FIFA rank - 63). But they got off to a bad start in this year, crashing out of CONCACAF Nations League losing to Antigua and Barbuda (current FIFA rank - 123).
Curacao will treat King's Cup as a preparatory tournament ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup that begins on 17th June. The Blue Tigers, in turn, will seek to break in a new head coach in King's Cup and the Intercontinental Cup ahead of their World Cup Qualifiers campaign that begins in November.
The All India Football Federation is yet to announce who will be the next head coach of the Indian national team, but they are in the final stages of determining who will succeed Stephen Constantine. According to rumours, former Bengaluru FC head coach Albert Roca is a front-runner for the job.