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India coach Stephen Constantine announces 32 probables for World Cup Qualifiers

India coach Stephen Constantine
India coach Stephen Constantine

Picture courtesy: AIFF Media

Indian national coach Stephen Constantine announced the list of 32 probables for India’s forthcoming home and away matches for the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia against Nepal.

The matches would be played on a home and away format and India first host Nepal on March 12 at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium in Sajusarai, Guwahati while the return leg is slated to be played in Nepal on March 17.

“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,” national coach Stephen Constantine told AIFF Media.

The squad would be further shortlisted to 26 after the completion of Round 8 matches of the ongoing Hero 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,” Constantine told.

“We won’t get everybody together in the camp at the same time. There’s a Hero I-League match on March 4 and hopefully, everyone would assemble by the next day, i.e., March 5.”

INDIA PROBABLES

Goalkeepers
Arindam Bhattacharya (Bharat FC), Subrata Pal (Salgaocar SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Stabæk Fotball), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC)

Defenders
Rino Anto (Bengaluru FC), Saumik Dey (East Bengal Club), Augstine Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Raju Eknath Gaikwad (East Bengal Club), Sandesh Jhingan (Sporting Clube de Goa), Aiborlang Khongjee (Shillong Lajong FC), Pritam Kotal (Mohun Bagan AC), Arnab Mondal (East Bengal Club), Keegan Pereira (Bengaluru FC), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC)

Midfielders
Prabir Das (Dempo SC), Anthony D’Souza (Bengaluru FC), Francis Fernandes (Dempo SC), Dhanapal Ganesh (Pune FC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club), Cavin Lobo (East Bengal Club), Eugeneson Lyngdoh (Bengaluru FC), Lalrindika Ralte (East Bengal Club), Lenny Rodrigues (Dempo SC)

Forwards
Sunil Chhetri (Bengaluru FC), Mandar Rao Desai (Dempo SC), Romeo Fernandes (Dempo SC), Alwyn George (Dempo SC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Mohun Bagan AC), Holicharan Narzary (Dempo SC), Balwant Singh (Mohun Bagan AC), Jackichand Singh (Royal Wahingdoh FC), Robin Singh (Bengaluru FC)

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)