Sunil Chhetri will lead India’s 23-man squad for the Hung Thinh Friendly Football Tournament against Vietnam and Singapore later this week.
This will be the men’s team’s first international tournament since Fifa lifted their brief suspension on the All India Football Federation. The matches were earlier put in doubt.
While Rahul Bheke, Suresh Singh, Glan Martins and Rahim Ali have not been selected after reportedly picking up injuries, coach Igor Stimac has left out defenders Pritam Kotal, Subhasish Bose and forward Manvir Singh for the friendlies. A list of 24 probables were named earlier.
In an interview to AIFF, he said the door is not closed for any one from the list of 40 players he has to choose from.
“Nobody has been excluded. My actual list contains of 40 players, and it is just because to the situation of the tournament that I can only choose 23 of them. My technical staff and I felt that this set of players were the best suited and most compatible for the two upcoming matches,” the 55-year-old said. “This is how we learn more about the players. Of course I had meetings with all my players before this, I had communicated to them as to why we are going with this current list. Everyone who is not on the list knows why [they] aren’t on it. But everyone is preparing for March.”
India’s first match is against Singapore on September 24 while their second match against Vietnam will be on September 27.
India Squad:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Amrinder Singh
Defenders: Sandesh Jhingan, Roshan Singh Naorem, Anwar Ali, Akash Mishra, Chinglensana Singh Konsham, Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Narender Gahlot
Midfielders: Liston Colaco, Muhammed Ashique Kuruniyan, Udanta Singh Kumam, Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Yasir Mohammad, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Sahal Abdul Samad, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Vikram Pratap Singh
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Ishan Pandita
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