Indian men's football team will assemble in Kolkata on August 15 and begin training from the next day in a secured bio-bubble.
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Indian men’s football team will assemble in Kolkata on August 15 for a two-week training camp with an eye on the forthcoming international friendlies in September. The training sessions will start from August 16, the AIFF said in a statement. Meanwhile, this will be the first time Indian men’s teams training camp will be held in Kolkata after 2006 when the team was preparing for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia. The camp will be conducted adhering to the COVID-19 protocols.
Men’s national team head coach Igor Stimac has named his initial list of 23 probables. He has left out players from ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC. The reason, both these clubs will have AFC commitments in the Maldives. Therefore, the selected players from both these clubs will be joining the national camp immediately after their club commitments in the continental championship.
The camp will be conducted under a biosecure environment that will adhere to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian men’s football team will also be undergoing regular testing.
However, there was no news on the national women’s team. They will be playing in the AFC Asian Cup next year as the host nation. Meanwhile, the last time the women’s team played an international match was in April. With the Indian Women’s League also canceled, they haven’t had any preparation.
The Blue Tigers have qualified for the third round of AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers. Stimac might be looking at this camp as an opportunity to prepare for the qualifiers. This will be the next big assignment.
“I am very happy to meet with my players again and get ready for the upcoming challenges forward together,” Stimac said.
“We wish both the Indian clubs good luck and hope they do well in the AFC Cup. Meanwhile, we need to check on the rest of the players who will kick off the camp with us next week, and choose the best ones until the rest of the players join us,” added the Croatian.
GOALKEEPERS: Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Vishal Kaith.
DEFENDERS: Ashish Rai, Seriton Fernandes, Adil Khan, Chinglensana Singh, Narender, Rahul Bheke, Akash Mishra, Mandar Rao Dessai.
MIDFIELDERS: Lalengmawia, Glan Martins, Jeakson Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Sahal Abdul Samad, Halicharan Narzary, Bipin Singh, Yasir Mohammed.
FORWARDS: Rahul KP, Farukh Choudhary, Ishan Pandita, Rahim Ali.
The ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC players who will be joining the camp after their AFC Cup duties are:
GOALKEEPERS: Amrinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Ashutosh Mehta, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhasish Bose.
MIDFIELDERS: Udanta Singh, Pronay Halder, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Ashqiue Kuruniyan.
FORWARDS: Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Sunil Chhetri.
