WATCH: When Former and Current Players Wished India Ahead of Their AFC Asian Cup Campaign

The Indian football team did not have a pleasant start to their AFC Asian Cup campaign having suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Australia. Despite keeping the former champions at bay for the entire first half, India conceded two goals in the second half. Despite the loss, there was no dearth of support for India at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Qatar. It has now been learnt that the Indian footballers received words of encouragement from a number of other players, who are not present with the national team. In a video shared by the official social media handle of the Indian football team, players like Anwar Ali, Glan Martins, Nandhakumar Sekar, Ashique Kuruniyan, and Chinglensana Singh were seen sending their best wishes to the squad for their AFC Asian Cup campaign. Former players like Jeje Lalpekhlua and Gourmangi Singh also wished the Indian football team good luck.

“Behind the scenes. Last-minute dressing-room motivation the squad got from current and former Blue Tigers before they went out to play the Aussies,” read the post shared by the Indian football team on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The heart-warming video went viral in no time with fans sending their best wishes to the Indian football team in comments.

“We believe in you, the Indian football team, all the players but you need to believe in yourself! Confidence is key, the rest will fall into place. Good luck out there! For Asian Cup,” wrote one social media user.

Another person admired this behind-the-scenes initiative and commented, “That was an awesome great job whoever thought of this!”

“Good luck blue tigers! For the Asian Cup,” said another user.

Coming back to on-field developments, the Australian football team scored the first goal with midfielder Jackson Irvine finding the back of the net in the 50th minute. Jordan Bos doubled the lead for the Socceroos in the 73rd minute.

The defeat does not bring an end to India’s chances of qualifying for the next round. With two group matches still to be played, the Igor Stimac-coached side can hope to reach the round of 16. In their next match, the Blue Tigers will be up against Uzbekistan on Thursday, January 18. The top two sides from each group, along with the four best third-placed countries from across the six groups, will advance to the round of 16.