Internet Desk: India’s senior football team coach Stephen Constantine has picked 11 players, who was a part of the nation’s AFC U-17 Qualifiers in Doha, in the preliminary 28-member squad for the forthcoming AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers which will take place at Bengaluru on October 11.
Among the notable absentees in the squad is star forward Robin Singh, who scored a goal against Mauritius last month. The 28 man squad will assemble in Mumbai on September 28th with practice scheduled to begin the next day itself.
The Sunil Chhetri led team have been unbeaten in their last 11 matches out of which they have won 10 (including the un-official match against Bhutan), thus, in the process, creating an all-time Indian record of winning nine consecutive international games, including the unofficial match against Bhutan. Constantine, however, is not willing to read too much into the statistics.
“Every match starts afresh. The results of our previous matches are all history and will have no bearing when we kick-off on October 11 at home against Macau,” he stated. “I am looking forward to start training with the boys and need to work hard to keep alive our chances of earning a ticket to the AFC Asian Cup 2019,” he added.
List of 28 probables:
Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Nishu Kumar, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh,Sarthak Golui, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Narayan Das.
Midfielders: Jackichand Singh, Udanta Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Md Rafique, Anirudh Thapa, Germanpreet Singh, Halicharan Narzary.
Forwards: Balwant Singh, Allen Deory, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Hitesh Sharma, CK Vineeth.