India vs Iraq

India vs Iraq

India will be playing against Iraq tomorrow at the Al Shaab, Stadium, Sharjah in an international friendly as a part of their preparation for the prestigious Asia Cup 2011, Qatar. This will be first of their three international friendlies to be played during the Dubai camp of the National Team. After this match India are scheduled to play Kuwait(November 14th) and UAE(November 18th).

Iraq, who are currently ranked at 94 according to the FIFA Rankings are under their newly appointed German Coach Wolfgang Sidka (former coach of Bahrain National Team), are on a impressive run bagging 4 wins out of their last 5 matches, while India on the contrary have managed to win only 2 of their last 6 friendlies. It will no doubt be one of the toughest match India have played in this entire calender year but, will certainly help the team to know what they can expect when they face the big Asian three South Korea, Australia and Bahrain.

The real bad news for India is that their star striker Sunil Chhetri will not be able to play the match because of the injury he suffered during practice session. The other players who will not be a part of the starting XI because of injuries or niggles are Bhaichung Bhutia, Mahesh Gawli, Sameer Naik, N.P.Pradeep and Arindam Bhattacharya.

So the starting Line up looks like this:

Sushil Kumar Singh will get a start upfront with strike partner Abhishek Yadav.

Raring to go after injury

Steven Dias on the right, Climax Lawrence in the centre along with Rakesh Masih and Anthony Pereira on the left flank.

The defense comprises of Surkumar Singh, Gouramangi Singh, Anwar and Rahim Nabi, while Subrata Pal be at the goal.

The team has to be at its toes in order to gain something from the friendly. Bob Houghton will have to need to pick something out of the magic head in order to produce an upset.