India, Oct. 10 -- Sandesh Jhingan said it didn't matter that he had never played Singapore. The only time India played the city-state after his international debut, Jhingan had reached on match day due to a problem with his travel documents.

The point Jhingan was making in his interview to HT before Thursday's 2027 Asian Cup qualifier was that it did not matter. Teams in Asia are full of players not born in the country they are representing, making them markedly different from even two years ago. "We played Hong Kong and it hardly looked like the Hong Kong we played in Kolkata in 2022. This time, they had players speaking in Spanish," said Jhingan.

In June, soon after he had stepped down as India head coach, Manolo Marquez had spoken ab...