Reaching round

FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Igor Stimac is no stranger to cliffhangers. In his long and distinguished career, the classy center-back of the nineties had experienced many such nights on the pitch, when football wasn’t a matter of life and death, but much more important than that.

Yet, the ever-smiling and affable Croat, with 40 years of top-tier football experience in his kitty, is truly excited as the countdown has begun in earnest for the compelling FIFA World Cup Qualifier between India and Kuwait on June 6. Four days ahead of the tie at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Stimac predicted it could be an epoch-making encounter, "the most important match for India in three decades."

India tried their luck in World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in 1985 and, since then, could never cross the first-round barrier, Stimac pointed out.