In the four matches that he has overseen, India football coach Manolo Marquez has yet to see his team win a match, but the coach is confident that his team will do well in the qualifiers of the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 which begin in March.

On Monday, India rallied to draw against Malaysia 1-1 in Hyderabad and it was a disappointing result for India, who finished the calendar year without a single win.

“We are disappointed not to win but I am sure we will qualify for the AFC Asian Cup in 2027,” said Marquez. “Now we have four months. I know that it’s been a while since the national team has won a game, but we will win in March.”

India’s struggle to find a replacement for the retired Sunil Chhetri continues but Marquez chose to highlight the positives — India’s defending.

Apart from goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s howler which saw India concede the opening goal, India were pretty solid at the back.

“I think that we pressed very well. We defended very well particularly. They didn’t create chances till the last moment when they hit the post. The reality is that we created good combinations but not too clearly,” Marquez said.

Marquez took over when Croatian Igor Stimac was fired and despite not winning a single game yet, he believes that his men have come a fair distance since his first assignment when they drew with Mauritius (0-0) and lost to Syria (0-3) in the Intercontinental Cup.

“My opinion is that the improvement is there. The important thing is to score. At least we understand what we want to do. It’s correct that we have more room for improvement. We can and we will play better than today for sure,” he said.