The football lovers are waiting for the Intercontinental Cup 2019 from a long time and this time it is going too held in India. The AIFF announced on Monday that North Korea, India, Syria, and Tajikistan will be four teams which will compete in 2nd Intercontinental Cup. Before the announcement, the Football Association of central Asia already tweeted this information. The AIFF said, All India Football Federation confirms the participation of Syria, DPR Korea, and Tajikistan as the participating teams of the second edition of the Hero Intercontinental Cup from July 7-17, 2019.  

Many hours before this announcement, the Tajikistan Football association also tweeted that Tajik National team would play against India, North Korea, and Syria in Intercontinental Cup 2019. The tournament will be held between 7th to 18th July in India only. The tweet by Tajikistan Football prompted AIFF to make this announcement public soon. The fans of football were waiting for this tournament for a long time and it will be aired on the main sports channels in the world. The match will be also available at online sources but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Location of Intercontinental Cup

The All India Football Federation confirmed that DPR Korea, Tajikistan, Syria, and India would participate in the 2nd edition of Hero Continental Cup 2019 which will be held at Shree Kanteervaa Stadium located in Bengaluru. The venue for this tournament hasnt been decided yet but the opening is in Bengaluru, Of Course. You can stay updated with the updated information by reading newspapers and watching sports news on television.  You can catch up all the necessary information about Intercontinental Cup 2019 on the official website of it.

Acid Test for the Blue Tigers

As a courtesy by Sunil Chhetri, the Blue Tigers would come in this competition as the defending champions as they had won inaugural edition which held in June 2018. Kenya was defeated by Blue Tigers in the finals. Chinese Taipei and New Zealand were also two other teams in the fray. Kushal Das has told that these matches can hold nice stead for the 2022 World cup qualifiers which will start in September 2019.

The four national teams will get encouraged to play better in the world cup qualifiers which will be held in July. The Intercontinental Cup is not a proper bar to find out the ranks of the countries in the qualifiers but it can definitely help them to become better at the game. The positivity of the three consecutive nations to take part in the event is appreciated by the general secretary of AIFF. It is a great way to motivate the players to play the game as they are ready to become better at every match.  The Blue Tigers had performed well in the last continental cup and thats why there are chances that the team will do very well in this tournament also. Rest of the things would depend upon the result but it is a kind of test for the Blue Tigers.

The General Secretary of AIFF, Kushal Das said that this Intercontinental Cup in India will be like an acid test for the Blue Tigers before they take part in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.  It is really important for the Indian Team to perform well in this season to become better at the FIFA world cup qualifiers. Other than this, he also told, The AIFF and their partners FSDL have finalized an annual calendar for the men's national team. In June, the national team is scheduled to participate in the King's Cup in Thailand where we play Curacao in our first match, and then either Vietnam or Thailand. He also thanked the respective football federations of the Tajikistan, Syria, and DPR  Korean teams to join the four-nation event this year. All of the four teams can get improved with this tournament and there might be the chances that all of them will enter in qualifiers but that depends mostly on the performance of the teams in this tournament. Every team will play with each other in Robin phase round.  After this, two teams will be selected to play for finals. The winner will be awarded several benefits but it can be also a sign of qualifying in the World Cup qualifiers which will be held in July. The Intercontinental Cup 2019 is held by India for the second time to encourage the footballers to get ahead and compete with the countries to be better at the game.

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