The Indian national football team will take on Turkmenistan in its third Preliminary Joint Qualification match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Thursday at the Köpetdag Stadium in Ashgabat where Stephen Constantine's men are keen to take the positivity from the camp. 

India are currently without any point from Group D of the qualifiers after losing all the previous three games against Oman, Guam, and Iran this year. A victory against Turkmenistan can give them something to cheer for.

Turkmenistan, who are currently ranked 155 by FIFA, remain fourth in the group following two losses and just a win, and that is something Constantine would like to capitalise on.

"The atmosphere is so positive in the Camp. That's the speciality of National Camps the World over," the British coach told the official website of AIFF. "We have two crucial back-to-back matches [against Turkmenistan and Oman] and all in the camp needs to understand its significance. We need to settle down fast.

"We have a group of young Players who will make the Country proud in the future. This is what we are trying to build, a Team for the future," he said.

Two practice sessions on two seperate days were scheduled by the India coach ahead of this key clash, as they looked forward to having the best of preparations.

"It's about doing it on the field. We are getting ready for the challenges ahead," Indian defender Arnab Mondal said. "We would be taking a step at a time and are at the moment focussing on the match against Turkmeistan.

"We understand Turkmenistan have some good results at Home. We need to execute the coach's instructions to perfection. That's our job," the Atletico de Kolkata man added.

The presence of Robin Singh and Sunil Chhetri in the game is expected to give the much-needed attacking teeth to the away side, but the unavailablity of Dhanpal Ganesh -- who is recovering from an injury -- is something Chhetri is not happy about.

"We want to take forward our good performance against Iran but we intend to change the result as we expect to open our account," the Mumbai City FC striker, who led the national side against Iran in the previous game, said.

"Thankfully there are no injuries in the Team but we will certainly miss Dhanpal (Ganesh)," he added.

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD: India have gone past Turkmenistan on just one occasion -- in the 2002 Asian Games. Bhaichung Bhutia scored a brace in that game.

Turkmenistan have won twice from the four games they have played against the Indian national football team so far, while one game ended in a draw.

Where to follow the updates

Get the Report HERE

India vs Turkmenistan kicks off at 6:30pm IST from the Köpetdag Stadium in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Thursday, 8 October, 2015.

The match will have no broadcast or online live streaming in India. However, the updates from the match can be found on the official AIFF Twitter handle and the official Facebook page.

HERE is the full squad of the away side for the match.