Six players from India’s AFC U-23 campaign in Doha were named in the 24-member squad for India’s forthcoming AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match against Macau on September 5.
Lalruatthara, Salam Ranjan Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Anirudh Thapa and Germanpreet Singh are the six players from the AFC U-23 campaign, who will be a part of the squad for Macau.
India are currently on top of Group A with 6 points, courtesy of back to back victories against Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic.
“Macau will be playing at home and in front of their home crowd. There’s always a marked difference between playing at home and playing an away match but we are aware of the challenge,” said head coach Stephen Constantine.
The team has been camping in Mumbai since August 12 during which they played two International matches against Mauritius and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Hero Tri-nation Football series as part of the preparation. They won 2-1 against Mauritius but could only manage a 1-1 draw with St. Kitts and Nevis.
“The matches provided us with the much-needed match practice ahead of our challenge against Macau,” Constantine mentioned.
“The body language is positive but ahead of such matches, there’s always a tendency of taking it a bit lightly against lower ranked opponents. The boys need to keep working hard on the ground against Macau,” stated observer and ex-captain IM Vijayan.
GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subrata Paul, Albino Gomes.
DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Lalruatthara, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Arnab Mondal, Salam Ranjan Singh, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala.
MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Rowllin Borges, Md. Rafique, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Halicharan Narzary.
FORWARDS: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh.