No big surprises in India’s final squad for Asian Cup
INDIA FINISHED THEIR PREPARATIONS FOR THE ASIAN CUP BY HOLDING OMAN TO A GOALLESS DRAW IN A WARM-UP TIE
ABU DHABI: Stressing on continuity, chief coach Stephen Constantine has announced a 23-member India football team, to be spearheaded by the seasoned Sunil Chhetri, for the AFC Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in the UAE from January 5 to February 1.
India play their first match against Thailand on January 6, with games against the hosts UAE and Bahrain slotted for January 10 and January 14, respectively.“it was very important to keep on the continuity. It’ll be silly of me to completely change the way we do things. Most of these boys are with us for some time now,” Constantine said.
“The other five boys (from the list of 28) will also stay with us until January 2. In case of an injury or anything else happens, these five boys will need to step up,” he added. “We are looking forward to the massive tournament. We hope these 23 boys will do a good job for us.” India were the first among 23 visiting teams to arrive in Abu Dhabi on December 20.
GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith, Amrinder Singh;
DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subhashish Bose, Narayan Das;
MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Jackiechand Singh, Germanpreet Singh, Pronay Halder, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit
Rai, Rowllin Borges, Ashique Kuruniyan, Halicharan Narzary;
FORWARDS: Sumeet Passi, Balwant Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua.
INDIA HOLD OMAN
ABU DHABI: India finished their preparations for the Asian Cup by holding a superior Oman to a goalless draw in their final warm-up tie here on Thursday.
India, currently ranked 97th in FIFA charts, held their own against the 82nd ranked Oman by creating a few chances while both goalkeepers Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Amrinder Singh pulled off a few good saves.
Oman are also in the Asian Cup.