Indian national team head coach Manolo Márquez has urged his players to become accustomed to his style of play as they prepare to take on Vietnam in a one-off friendly at the Thiên Trường Stadium in Nam Định on October 12.

The Spanish head coach took charge of the Blue Tigers in July, following the departure of Igor Stimac. However, Márquez experienced a challenging debut tournament in his first assignment with the national team, where they failed to register a win in the Intercontinental Cup last September.

The national team was initially scheduled to participate in a tri-nation friendly tournament with Vietnam and Lebanon during the October international break. However, following Lebanon’s withdrawal from the tournament, India will now play only a one-off friendly against 116th-ranked Vietnam next Saturday.

"In one way, it's worse because you play only one game. In another way, it's better because you have a little more time to prepare. If we had to play on the 9th, practically, we would've had only two training sessions before the game. At least now we'll have four or five sessions. I think the players can better understand our philosophy,” Marquez said to aiff.com before boarding to Vietnam.

Let's see if that's enough or not. But that's normal when you play with the national team. You need to have some sessions under your belt before a match," he added.

The Blue Tigers held a practice session at the AIFF National Centre of Excellence on Sunday. The head coach announced the final squad of 23 players ahead of the team's departure to Vietnam.

Read more: India announce final squad for the one-off friendly against Vietnam

With the Indian Super League (ISL) now in full swing, Márquez expects his players to be in better shape, both physically and in terms of match fitness, than they were during the Intercontinental Cup in September.

After an intense training session in Kolkata, Márquez assessed,

"The attitude of the players was good today (Sunday). Some of them played yesterday (Saturday), the Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal FC players. Even FC Goa played the day before. I like their optimistic attitude.”

"Vietnam is also in a similar situation as us. Their league season is also four-five games old, so we arrive in similar conditions. I think the team that wins this will prove they are better than the other, at least in this game," the Spaniard further added, shedding light on his opponent’s conditions.

Lalrinliana Hnamte and Aakash Sangwan have earned their first call-ups to the national team for the game against Vietnam. Brandon Fernandes, Vikram Partap Singh, and Vishal Kaith have returned to the squad after missing the Intercontinental Cup last month. Additionally, Farukh Chaudhary makes his comeback to the national team after a two-year gap, with the Chennaiyin FC forward included in the final 23-player squad.

Commenting on the selections, Márquez remarked,

"Obviously, physically, we are better than when we were in pre-season. There are still some players who are performing well but they are not here. We're still at the beginning of the season. I don't want to talk much about the ones who are not here.”

“If you speak with 20 people, all of them will give you a different list. We called these players because we think they are the best to play against Vietnam," Marquez signed off.

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2024-2025