New Delhi: Indian National Men’s team Head coach Igor Stimac announced the probable 23-man squad to travel to Maldives for the SAFF CHAMPIONSHIPS to be starting from October 1st.
The squad has been based on recent performances and absence of Sandesh Jhingan is yet to be filled by Seriton Fernandes. However the squad seems to be balanced with a gratifying ratio of Youngsters and experienced players.
The list of 23 probable players is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh, Vishal Kaith, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem.
DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Seriton Fernandes, Chinglensana Singh, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose, Mandar Rao Dessai.
MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Lalengmawia, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jeakson Singh, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh, Liston Colaco, Yasir Mohammad.
FORWARDS: Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary.
Talking of the squad and the importance of the tournament Stimac stated :
“We are all looking forward to the SAFF Championship as the leading football country in this part of Asia. These 4-5 games are extremely crucial for us as we won’t have any other chance of getting together before the start of 3rd round AFC Asian Cup qualifiers next season. So these matches should help us to improve a few points in our game.”
The Blue Tigers have won the SAFF Championship (formerly SAARC Cup) seven times – 1993 in Lahore, 1997 in Kathmandu, 1999 in Margao, 2005 in Karachi, 2009 (U23 squad) in Dhaka, 2011 in New Delhi), 2015-16 in Thiruvananthapuram.
Besides India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka , Nepal and hosts Maldives will be featuring in the tournament. Indian start their campaign against Bangladesh on October 4 in search of their eighth. The Blue Tigers would be playing Sri Lanka and Nepal next on October 7 and 10 and finally Maldives on October 13.
