The Hero Intercontinental Cup kick starts on Friday with India taking on Chinese Taipei for the tournament opener at the Mumbai Football Arena. Stephen Constantine, the head coach of the Indian national team, has 30-men at his disposal to choose from ahead of the highly anticipated encounter and it would be interesting to see who makes the final starting lineup. The inaugural tournament is being considered as a platform to evaluate India’s preparations ahead of the all-important AFC Asian Cup 2019.

On the eve of the clash, Constantine was present alongside Sunil Chhetri to address the media in the pre-match press conference. The Englishman began by stressing the importance of getting the balance right in the squad. “It is a great pleasure when the Indian national team is playing. For me, it is a great honour as always. Looking forward to the games. I think we will take these games as a preparation for the Asian Cup, which as I said, started since we’ve qualified. Looking forward to playing against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand. These matches will give us different looks and different problems and we need these games in our learning process.”

Constantine was also quick to play down suggestions that his side had the upper hand in the tournament due to their superior FIFA ranking. “Kenya, whoever they bring, will be difficult. I know the quality of their players. And New Zealand have players playing in Europe. Whether they play in League 1, League 2 or even Championship, it doesn’t matter. The quality of the players is what matters.”

Despite a host of new players added to the squad for the tournament, the 55-year-old tactician confirmed that preparations for the tournament would remain the same. “We prepare pretty much the same way for all in terms of physical preparations. How we tactically matchup is another story. We have watched how they field the teams; we have analysed and broken things down. We will set up our plans to try and win each of these games before the game begins.”

Chhetri, the ‘Hero of the League’ for the 2017-18 edition of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), is currently enjoying his purple patch. When asked to share his thoughts on the physical condition of the squad ahead of the tournament, he stated, “I and the boys feel really good. There was a mix bag of players, where some of them had not played for a month. As the tournament starts tomorrow, we are most probably on the same page, and as far as desire is concerned, everyone has given their 200%.”

The Bengaluru FC forward, who is just a couple of games away from completing his 100^th appearance for the nation, lay bare his emotions on donning the national team jersey for so many years. “It has been an absolute honour to play for my country. I have been fortunate to score that many goals,” he said. “Everyone involved in all the games - the coaches, the players, the physios and the ball boys have been able to continue till now and it stays the same. As far as my mantra is concerned, I love playing for my country. There is no better feeling. I enjoy doing it and I will give my best until the time I can.”