Blue Tigers will hold training session at a French club to prepare for Asian Cup

 A DAY AFTER news emerged that the India U-16 squad will go to Norway to train and play practice matches against U-16 teams of Norway and Stabaek FC, it seems similar training plans are underway for the senior Indian national team as well.

According to a report published in Bengali tabloid "Ebela", the Blue Tigers will go to France and avail of the training facilities of FC Metz right after taking part in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifier Playoffs against Laos.

Metz are a French professional club with a long history and have spent quite a few seasons in the Ligue 1. They have been relegated from the French top division quite a few times, the latest of which came last season.

But Metz have earned a reputation across Europe with their youth development; their academy has produced renowned players like Robert Pires and Emmanuel Adebayor. and they have been active in India for a while now. They conduct a few tournaments for kids aged between 8 and 12 every year, and send promising footballers for trials in France.

FC Metz were also involved in an advisory capacity when AIFF set up the Indian Arrows project, which saw them bring together a number of promising young players to form a team that played in the I-League. 

India are scheduled to play Laos on June 2nd and 7th, so it is likely that the players picked for the squad will assemble in France sometime in late June or July to begin the first phase of a long term training with the 2019 Asian Cup finals in mind. If India can secure qualification, that tourmanent will see the Blue Tigers go up against some of the heavyweight teams in Asia, and head coach Stephen Constantine wants to make sure that the team gets enough preparation before going into it.

Last time India made it to the Asian Cup in 2011, they lost all their group stage games and was ousted from the tourment with a goal difference of -10.