India, ranked 102, begin their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a match against Kuwait at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait City on Thursday.

The 136-ranked Kuwait are familiar faces from this summer's SAFF Championship. It was just over four months ago when Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's outstretched left glove pushed out Kuwait captain Khaled Hajiah's penalty to win the final in Bangalore.

But all that's in the past now. Head coach Igor Stimac has instructed his wards to forget that success and start with a clean slate.

Different circumstances, an unknown venue, and several changes in both squads, and most importantly, it's a World Cup qualifier.

These are the matches that could define and shape Indian football's future. India have played 14 matches this year, but none were as important as Thursday's game.

"This match has nothing to do with the games we played two months ago because a lot of things have changed since then," explained Stimac at the pre-match news conference on Wednesday.

"The players have started the season with their clubs."

Weather though may play truant. It was raining heavily on Wednesday evening and the forecast is more rain on match-day.

"We had a good preparation. We trained for five days in Dubai, adjusting to everything that we are expecting. How you open the qualifiers, with zero, one or three points, can make a huge difference. I am confident of a good performance," Stimac said.