THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

Igor Štimac names Indian squad for friendlies against Nepal

The Indian national team. (Photo courtesy: AIFF Media)
The Indian national team. (Photo courtesy: AIFF Media)

A day after Indian Men’s Senior National Team beat Hero I-League team Mohammedan Sporting 2-0 in an exhibition match at the VYBK on Sunday (August 26) evening, Head Coach Igor Štimac maintained that “we need to be careful as we head to the next two matches.”

He also named the list of 25 players who will be travelling to Nepal to play the back-to-back International Friendlies on September 2 and 5, respectively.

“We can’t expect much after 10 days of preparation. The legs are still heavy from the load, and we need to slow down, and refresh the players,” Štimac told www.the-aiff.com.

“I am happy with the manner our players performed. They should have scored a few goals much earlier. But it was not easy under the heavy downpour, and a heavy pitch,” Štimac explained. It rained all throughout the match, and the downpour was heavy from midway in the second half.

“The conditions were challenging,” Štimac added. “The boys are all ready for 45 minutes, and we need to be careful going into the next two games against Nepal. We understand that the ATK Mohun Bagan and BFC players will be in better shape than others for two matches against Nepal.”

While the ATK Mohun Bagan players join the camp in Kolkata today, the BFC players will join the rest of the squad in New Delhi on 29th evening. The Blue Tigers leave for Nepal the next day, i.e., August 30.

The National Team probables have been training in Kolkata since August 15. That had marked the return of the National Team camp in Kolkata after 15 years with the Blue Tigers last having camped in Kolkata way back in 2006 prior to the FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Saudi Arabia.

India MNT Squad

Goalkeepers
Amrinder Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Defenders
Pritam Kotal, Chinglensana Singh Konsham, Mandar Rao Dessai, Akash Mishra, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose, Seriton Fernandes

Midfielders
Lalengmawia, Bipin Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco, Yasir Mohammad, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Jeakson Singh, Pronay Halder

Forwards
Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary

(AIFF Media)