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Six players from India’s AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers in Doha were named in the 24-member squad for India’s forthcoming 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match against Macau on September 5, 2017. The squad will be departing for Macau from Mumbai via Bangkok on Friday, September 1.
India currently are on top of the Group A standings with six points, courtesy back to back victories against Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic.
However, National Coach Stephen Constantine felt there is “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.
The Team has been camping in Mumbai since August 12 during which they played two International matches against Mauritius and St. Kitts & Nevis in the Tri-Nation Football Series as part of the preparation.
“The matches provided us with the much-needed match practice ahead of our challenge against Macau,” Constantine mentioned.
Legendary Footballer I.M. Vijayan who will also be travelling to Macau as an observer said the “team looks 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,” he stated.
INDIA
GOALKEEPERS
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subrata Paul, Albino Gomes
DEFENDERS
Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Arnab Kumar Mondal, Salam Ranjan Singh, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala
MIDFIELDERS
Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Mohammed Rafique, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Holicharan Narzary
FORWARDS
Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh
Its sad to see lalrindika ralte missing from the squad. He can play in central midfield, in behind the striker as a number 10, can play on either wings,great distribution skills, has a powerful shot. Sometimes a player needs the coach ‘s confidence. Hopefully, arunava you’ll read this and bring this to stefen’s notice.
Some of the players in the squad ain’t good enough. C
K.vineet has been in fantastic form for bengaluru fc and he’s been overlooked. The most improved player in the Indian circuit. Mandar desai is another guy. Good technical ability. How is he not better than Holicharan Narzary.
Stefen has a good eye for talent. Rafique being a case in point. Hardly features for his club side but has managed to win stefen’s confidence. In both the international friendlies, he was played in central midfield and clearly looked out of position. Not good enough to replace rowlin or lyndo. And you could see India losing control of the tempo after they were substituted. Ralte can easily slot into that role. Hard tackling , good distribution skills. Sadly no club has picked him up for isl. Maybe after reading this, clubs might want to review their decision.
Hope to hear from you, arunava.