Indian national football team coach Igor Stimac has selected a 27-men squad as they will travel to the United Arab Emirates for their preparatory camp in Dubai followed by two friendlies against UAE and Oman.
While the match against Oman is scheduled for March 25, the match against UAE is slated for March 29, 2021, and both the matches will be played in Dubai. Stimac wants his men to be match fit before heading to Qatar where they will play their remaining matches of the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
There have been some interesting names among the players who have been selected and also among the ones who have been axed. Players like Udanta Singh, Seriton Fernandes, Prabir Das, Farukh Choudhury, Sunil Chhetri, Vishal Kaith, Sarthak Golui, Rahul KP have been dropped from the initial squad that was announced a few days ago. While it has been mentioned that Seriton Fernandes is injured and unavailable for selection and Chhetri has tested positive for COVID-19 and may join later when he has recovered properly.
The Croatian tactician also mentioned that Brandon Fernandes, Rahul Bheke, Sahal Abdul Samad and Asish Rai were also not available for selection due to injuries.
Head Coach Igor Stimac stated: “It is such a relief that we are all assembling together and gearing up for international action. There are a lot of new faces in the squad and it is time for hard work for all of them – in fact, for all in the camp. We need to check how they respond and how bright is our future with them.”
The Blue Tigers’ performance under Igor Stimac at the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualifiers has not been anything to write home about. The team started with a loss against Oman at home despite leading the majority of the game. Then they sparked a surprise with a draw against Qatar at their den. However, they registered another draw against Afghanistan right at the death with Seiminlen Doungel being the saving grace for the team. They could only salvage a point against Bangladesh at home. Lastly they again lost to Oman in the away fixture and are currently fourth in Group[ E behind Qatar, Oman and Afghanistan without a single win till now.
Therefore Igor Stimac believes that it is a process and the success will come soon and therefore he has chosen some of the exceptional talents from the recently concluded Indian Super League. He has gone with a lot of youngsters showing his trust in them.
The 27-member squad is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Dheeraj Singh.
DEFENDERS: Ashutosh Mehta, Akash Mishra, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Chinglensana Singh, Adil Khan, Mandar Rao Dessai, Mashoor Shereef.
MIDFIELDERS: Rowllin Borges, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Raynier Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa, Bipin Singh, Yasir Mohammad, Suresh Singh, Halicharan Narzary, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Ashique Kuruniyan, Hitesh Sharma.
FORWARDS: Manvir Singh, Ishan Pandita, Liston Colaco.
