AFC Asian Cup | Stephen Constantine picks final 23 man squad; Manvir and Chhangte left out

12/27/2018

Stephen Constantine picked the final 23 players who will take part in the AFC Asian Cup Tournament which is slated to begin on January 5 in UAE. India, who left out Manvir Singh and Lallinzuala Chhangte, will play its first match on January 6 against Thailand at the Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Leaving five members out of the 28 member squad that travelled to United Arab Emirates (UAE), National Football coach Stephen Constantine announced the squad for the AFC Asian Cup Tournament. The five players who did not find favour were ATK’s Arindam Bhattacharjya, Kerala Blasters’ Lalruatthara, Jamshedpur FC’s Farukh Chowdhary, FC Goa’s Manvir Singh and Delhi Dynamos’ Lallinzuala Chhangte.

The forward line is lead by Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri, who would like to continue his form with Jeje Lalpekhlua and Balwant Singh looking out of form. Sumeet Passi completes India’s forward line.

Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Ashique Kuruniyan and Halicharan Narzary are chosen as the wingers and two of the four are expected to make the final eleven on the game eve. Anirudh Thapa, Germanpreet Singh, Vinit Rai, Rowllin Borges and Pronay Halder are the other midfielders in the team.

Lead goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is backed by two others in Amrinder Singh and Vishal Kaith. On the defence side, Constantine has chosen seven players along with the like of Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika.

23 MAN SQUAD

Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Balwant Singh

Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Germanpreet Singh, Vinit Rai, Rowllin Borges, Pronay Halder, Ashique Kuruniyan, Halicharan Narzary

Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Salam Ranjan Singh, Anas Edathodika, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhasish Bose, Narayan Das

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith