Indian Football: 3 Puzzling omissions from the Indian squad

#1 Rowllin Borges

Borges played pivotal role for NorthEast United

“I am very happy to have Igor Stimac as the national team Coach. He is a very experienced coach and has coached at really high levels. With his new tactics and techniques, I am sure the team will reach higher levels too. I am looking forward to training under him and learn a lot from him.”

This is what Rowllin Borges had to say of India’s new coach Igor Stimac in an interview to the Goal.com website.

However, his ‘happiness’ was short lived as Borges was among the second batch of six players who were released from the national camp ahead of the Kings Cup. Not many would’ve liked the idea of excluding him but certainly Stimac thinks otherwise.

Borges played a pivotal role in NorthEast United’s campaign in the last season of ISL. The club qualified for the play-offs for the first time in their history.

His performance impressed one and all and coach Eelco Schattorie went on to say, “Rowllin has the ability to play also as a holding midfielder. He has the ability to score goals and the physical ability to go box-to-box. He also has the technical ability to be creative and I think that role (no. 8) fits him the best.”

These words summed up what Borges can offer for a team. Schattorie, one of best tactical coach, used Borges brilliantly throughout the campaign. Borges not only stops defenders from scoring goals, he can also move up and provide defence splitting passed to the attackers. His 989 passes and 53 tackles back his all-round ability.

It needs to be seen how India can cope up without a holding midfielder like him, especially against attacking sides like Curacao and Thailand.