Intercontinental Cup 2019 | Michael Soosairaj left out as Igor Stimac announces 25-man preliminary Indian squad

07/05/2019

Igor Stimac has decided to leave Michael Soosairaj out of the 25-man preliminary Indian squad ahead of the Intercontinental Cup, which will begin on Sunday in Ahmedabad. Jobby Justin, Narender Gehlot, and Mandar Rao Desai have found a place in the squad which will be again cut down to 23.

India are all set to host the four-nation Intercontinental Cup which is scheduled to be played at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad from July 7. Defending champions India will play Tajikistan in their opening game on the first day of the tournament and the head coach has announced a preliminary squad for the competition on Friday. Syria and DPR Korea are the other two participating teams in the competition.

Midfielder Soosairaj is one of the major exclusions from the squad while the coach has called youngster Narender Gehlot, who played for Indian Arrows in the I-League for the tournament. The highest scorer in the last edition of the I-League Jobby Justin has also got a call in the 25-man team.

“We are satisfied with the execution of work for the past ten days. The players worked really hard, and we are all very enthusiastic about our upcoming games,” Stimac told AIFF website.

“Once again, I will use the upcoming games in the tournament to have a look at all the players in action. Each one of them deserves the chance.”

Stimac had earlier called of 35 players for the preparatory camp in Mumbai which started on June 25.

SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Kamaljit Singh.

DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Adil Khan, Anas Edathodika, Narender Gahlot, Subhasish Bose, Jerry Lalrinzuala.

MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa, Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges, Vinit Rai, Sahal Abdul, Amarjit Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Mandar Rao Desai.

FORWARDS: Jobby Justin, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary, Manvir Singh.