New Delhi: Six players from the AFC U-23 campaign in Doha last month were named Thursday in the 24-member squad for India’s AFC Asian Cup Qualifier football match against Macau, September 5. The squad will depart Friday for Macau.
India currently are atop Group A with six points, courtesy back-to-back victories against Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic.
However, national coach Stephen Constantine felt there was no reason to underestimate Macau as a team.
“Macau will be playing at home and in front of their home crowd. There’s always a marked difference between playing at home and playing an away match but we are aware of the challenge,” Constantine said in a release.
The Indian team have been camping in Mumbai since August 12 during which they played two International matches against Mauritius and St Kitts and Nevis in the tri-nation football tournament as part of the preparation. “The matches provided us the much needed match practice ahead of our challenge against Macau,” said the coach.
Former Indian captain IM VIjayan, who will also be travelling to Macau as an observer, said the ‘team look to be in great shape’.
“The body language is positive but ahead of such matches, there’s always a tendency of taking it a bit lightly against lower-ranked opponents. The boys need to keep working hard on the ground against Macau,” Vijayan asserted.
The squad:
(Goalkeepers): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subrata Paul, Albino Gomes; (Defenders): Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Arnab Mondal, Salam Ranjan Singh, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala; (Midfielders): Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Md Rafique, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Halicharan Narzary; (Forwards): Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh.
press trust of india