Samad makes a cut, but Jeakson and Martins miss due to injuries
The Blue Tigers arrive in Doha later on Saturday ahead of their fifth appearance in the Asian Cup.
New Delhi: India, struggling with injuries to key midfielders, named a 26-member squad for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup on Saturday. Sahal Abdul Samad made the squad, but Jeakson Singh and Glan Martins missed out due to fitness issues.
Defensive midfielder Jeakson, who suffered a shoulder injury in November, was always a doubt, as were Mohun Bagan’s Martins, who was injured recently. Both were among the fifty suspected perpetrators.
However, Samad, who was also injured early this month, managed to find his way into the squad that will be led by veteran striker Sunil Chhetri.
Indian senior men’s team head coach Igor Stimac announced the squad. The Blue Tigers arrive in Doha later on Saturday ahead of their fifth appearance in the Asian Cup.
India will play their opening Group B match against Australia on January 13 at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan before facing Uzbekistan at the same venue on January 18.
Stimac’s men will then move to the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor on January 23 to take on Syria. “All these guys are very similar in terms of football quality. We are a team, a family. But regardless of talent, if there is no character, nothing can be achieved,” Stimac said.
Sharing the areas he would like to improve ahead of the tournament, Stimac said: “The things we want to work on are mainly defensive compactness, attacking transitions and the set pieces. It will be very important to work on man marking in the penalty area because I wasn’t happy with that part of our game. In the last few games we started leaking some unnecessary goals into the penalty area.”
The 1998 Croatian World Cup semi-finalist added: “All three of our opponents are technically very good, physically stronger and with great speed. So we won’t have much difference in the approach to all three of these games, I can tell you that.
“We need to monitor the fitness level of our players at the moment and see how much we can develop over the next two weeks.”
The Blue Tigers are no strangers to Qatar as they played four of their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers there, including two against the home side.
Moreover, Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu were part of the Indian squad at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, which was also held in Qatar. Chhetri scored a goal each against Bahrain and South Korea.
“I look forward to seeing our Indian fans in Doha. They came in large numbers to support the Indian team during the qualifiers and that was one of the reasons why we had two great performances here against Qatar.
“So I’m very aware that there will be huge support for our boys. Hopefully we can pay them back and celebrate some good results,” said Stimac.
Indian team:
Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Akash Mishra, Lalchungnunga, Mehtab Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhasish Bose.
Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Deepak Tangri, Lalengmawia Ralte, Liston Colaco, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Udanta Singh.
Forward: Ishan Pandita, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Manvir Singh, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Sunil Chhetri, Vikram Partap Singh.
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