Indian Football: Stimac names his list of 25 as National Preparatory Camp comes to an end

Indian Football Team head coach Igor Stimac announced the 25-member Preliminary Squad for the Intercontinental Cup on Friday. The team will land in Ahmedabad on July 6 after their 10-day preparatory Camp in Mumbai for the tournament.

The squad which consists of 25 players will be reduced to the allowed number of 23 names after a day of training on 6th July. Stimac called up 35 players initially for the Preparatory Camp and 10 names have been struck off of the squad list.

Vishal Kaith, Nishu Kumar, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sarthak Golui, Anwar Ali, Raynier Fernandes, Michael Soosairaj, Nikhil Poojari, Jackichand Singh and Balwant Singh have been released from the camp. Ashique Kuruniyan was already released from the Camp.

The two names who make their first-ever cut to the squad are youngster Narender Gehlot from Jamshedpur FC and Mandar Rao Desai from FC Goa.

History will be made on 7th July at the Arena by Transstadia in Ahmedabad as the state will be hosting an international football tournament for the first time in its history. Blue Pilgrims from across the country will be joining hands with Pol Amdavadi (ARA FC Fans Group) to fill the stands.

Stimac was quoted saying, “all our work has been programmed to get us in form for the qualifiers.” The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers kick-off in September, the draw for which is slated for later this month.

“Once again, I will use the upcoming games in the tournament to have a look at all the players in action. Each one of them deserve the chance,” the Coach explained.

The 25-member squad is as follows :

GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Kamaljit Singh.

DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Adil Khan, Anas Edathodika, Narender Gahlot, Subhasish Bose, Jerry Lalrinzuala.

MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa, Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges, Vinit Rai, Sahal Abdul, Amarjit Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Mandar Rao Desai.

FORWARDS: Jobby Justin, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary, Manvir Singh.