XtraTime Web Desk: Indian senior men football squad headed by coach Stephen Constantine announced today as 30 men are in the preliminary squad for the upcoming International Cup in June.
The squad is set to start their training camp from May 16-18 in Mumbai. India will participate in the four nation International Cup, alongside with Kenya, Chinese Taipei and New Zealand from June 1 to 10 before the AFC Asian Cup to be held in UAE in January next year.
Constantine termed the Hero Intercontinental Cup as “an opportunity to play against good opponents.”
“We need to play more international games before the AFC Asian Cup and here we are getting some international games against good opponents. New Zealand will be going to be a difficult team to deal with,” he said.
“Chinese Taipei will give us different problems. They play the same kind of football akin to Thailand who are clubbed with us in the Asian Cup,” he said.
“Kenya are renowned for their physical prowess and strength. The tournament is going to be very crucial for us.”
“I always look for more options as the set of players who are with me now might not be available then. An injury or a bad patch might come in between. Players should come to the camp with an open mind and give their best. We might have some difficult decisions to make in future,” he said.
“I always look forward to the national camp as I love working with the players. All of them have worked very hard to qualify for the camp. We can say the India team has reached a certain level in many years and now the onus is on us to maintain this. We have to work hard relentlessly to continue the process.”
Head coach Stephen Constantine will experiment with the team combination Souvik Chakrabarti, Laldanmawia Ralte, Sanjiban Ghosh and Ashique Kuruniyan got the reward for their very good domestic season.
Unfortunately, there are no player in the squad from the I League winning team Minerva Punjab. Not only that but also players like Michael Soosairaj who played brilliantly for Chennai City FC in this season of I League.
Reacting to that fact I League winning team Minerva Punjab owner Ranjit Bajaj said, ” It’s unfortunate only coach Stephen Constantine can answer the question. ” He questions, ” Not just Sukhdev Kamalpreet who had a terrific I League for Minerva has missed a call up. I am also surprised to see no Soosairaj in the squad who undoubtedly was the best footballer in the recently concluded I League.” He continued to fume in anger as he said, ” It is unfortunate to see that the national team coach has been giving priority to ISL not the I League. The squad reviles the fact itself.
FULL SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Bengaluru FC), Amrinder Singh (Mumbai City FC), Vishal Kaith (FC Pune City); Sanjiban Ghosh (Jamshedpur FC)
DEFENDERS: Subhasish Bose (Bengaluru FC), Sandesh Jhingan, Lalruatthara (both Kerala Blasters FC), Souvik Chakrabarti, Anas Edathodika ( both Jamshedpur FC), Salam Ranjan Singh (East Bengal), Jerry Lalrinzuala (Chennaiyin FC), Narayan Das (FC Goa), Pritam Kotal (Delhi Dynamos), Davinder Singh (Mumbai City FC)
MIDFIELDERS: Rowllin Borges, Halicharan Narzary (both NorthEast United FC), Dhanapal Ganesh, Anirudh Thapa (both Chennaiyin FC), Udanta Singh (Bengaluru FC), Mohammed Rafique (East Bengal), Bikash Jairu (Jamshedpur FC) Pronay Halder (FC Goa), Laldanmawia Ralte (East Bengal), Ashique Kuruniyan (FC Pune City),
FORWARDS: Balwant Singh (Mumbai City FC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC), Seiminlen Doungel (NorthEast United FC), Alen Deory (Shillong Lajong FC), Manvir Singh (FC Goa), Sunil Chhetri (Bengaluru FC).