India flagoff their World Cup qualification bid against Nepal. The qualifying rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will begin for the Asian nations. India’s new coach Stephan Constantine has named his squad for the fixture.
Constantine also mentioned that this is the preliminary list of probables and the list would be further trimmed down to 26.
“With the help of Savio Medeira and Venkatesh we first registered the list of 50 Players and then Venky and myself sat down to select 32 players for the Camp,” Constantine said. The squad would be further shortlisted to 26 after the completion of round 8 matches of the ongoing I-League. The shortlisted 26 would be reporting to the camp in Guwahati from March 4 onwards.
“We hope to send a message to everybody who has an Indian nationality that they have a chance to play for the national team. I am really excited and looking forward to it. We won’t get everybody together in the camp at the same time. There’s a I-League match on March 4 and hopefully, everyone would assemble by the next day, i.e. March 5,” he concluded.
The team has a fair blend of youth and experience with the likes of Sandesh Jhinghan and Eugenson Lyngdoh getting a national call up.
Nepal in no way should to be under estimated as they have time and again proven to be party poopers for Indians. The two legged tie will play a leveler as both the teams are known to be a formidable force at home. Nepal will be a tough venue to visit due to the altitude playing a major factor for the visitors.
Probables for World Cup qualifier:
GOALKEEPERS: Subrata Paul, Karanjit Singh (both Salgaocar SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Stabek FC), Arindam Bhattacharya (Kalyani Bharat Football Club)
DEFENDERS: Keegan Pereira, Rino Anto (both Bengaluru FC), Saumik Dey, Raju Gaikwad, Arnab Mondal (East Bengal), Aiborlang Khongjee (Shillong Lajong Football Club), Sandesh Jhingan (Sporting Clube de Goa), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC), Augstine Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Pritam Kotal (Mohun Bagan)
MIDFIELDERS: Prabir Das, Francis Fernandes, Lenny Rodrigues (all Dempo SC), Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Anthony D’Souza (both Bengaluru FC), Mehtab Hossain, Cavin Lobo, Lalrindika Ralte (all East Bengal), Dhanapal Ganesh (Pune FC)
FORWARDS: Mandar Rao Desai, Romeo Fernandes, Alwyn George, Holicharan Narzary (all Dempo SC), Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh (both Bengaluru FC), Balwant Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua (both Mohun Bagan), Jackichand Singh (Royal Wahingdoh)
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