Stimac announced a 25-member squad for the two friendlies but trained on the eve of the match with just 18 players because seven are stuck in Mumbai for their visa approvals.
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Ahead of India’s friendly against Bahrain at the Sheikh Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium on Wednesday, head coach Igor Stimac has told his team to play a middle press and high-press game. The Blue Tigers are preparing for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers and after the match against Bahrain, they will face Belarus on Saturday. Both Bahrain and Belarus are ranked above India. Meanwhile Stimac announced a 25-member squad for the two friendlies but trained on the eve of the match with just 18 players.
? MATCHDAY ?
The #BlueTigers ? ?? take on Bahrain ?? in an International Friendly ?
⏳ 9.30 PM IST
? Muharraq Stadium ?️#BAHIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue ? #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/IyMeFshGCp— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
“I want to see our team going out on the pitch, brave, with a positive attitude, concentrating on the attack. We are going to play middle press and high-press. We’re going to take certain risks in the intention to play more, attack more” Stimac told reporters on Tuesday.
The coach clarified that seven players have still not joined the camp. They are stuck in Mumbai for their visa approvals. “Amrinder Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Aniket Jadhav, Akash Mishra, Bipin Singh, Chinglesana Singh, Brandon Fernandes are stuck in Mumbai, awaiting approval of visas for which we applied two months ago,” he said.
The likes of Prabhsukhan Gill, Hormipam Ruivah, Roshan Singh, Anwar Ali, VP Suhair, Danish Farooq and Aniket Jadhav have received first call-up for the senior team after a good showing in the recently concluded Indian Super League.
“This ISL season has been extremely exciting and we’ve seen some new faces. We’re going to give chance to those boys and see how they can do at the international level against stronger opposition and if we can count on them for the upcoming qualifier,” he said.
Meanwhile two notable absentees from the squad are Sunil Chhetri and Sahal Abdul Samad. Both of them have been out with injuries. In the absence of Chhetri, goalkeeper Gupreet Singh Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan will lead the side.
Although Gurpreet didn’t have a great season with Bengaluru FC, stimac has clarified that the 30-year-old will be the prefered custodian. Meanwhile KBFC keeper Gill won the ISL Golden Glove award, having kept seven clean sheets.
“As you know the goalkeeping position is very important for us and for such important matches, we stick with the goalkeeper, No.1, which is Gurpreet.”
“Nevermind he didn’t have a very successful season with the club or on a personal level, but he has been training for the last 11-12 days with the goalkeeping coach and the team. Gurpreet is, by my and our staff, the best goalkeeper we have in the country, and I’m not a favourite of changing that position often or without any need.”
In the absence of Chhetri, Stimac will be hoping that the youngsters will rise to the occasion. The likes of Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco, VP Suhai and Rahim Ali are the recognised forwards in the squad. Both Liston and Manvir had an impressive season with ATK Mohun Bagan. Liston finished the season as the top India goals-corer, having found the back of the net eight times and registered four assists.
“Of course, we’ve Manvir here, Rahim Ali, Suhair, Liston and other boys, but most of all, the whole team needs to replace Sunil and his goals. We want players to show up and take responsibility and forget about Sunil at the moment. He will join us for the upcoming camp,” he added.
The next camp starts April 24 and after the players’ COVID-19 tests, the final list of 28 players will be finalised. “After two initial weeks (thereafter), we’re going to go somewhere to play a few friendly games which are in negotiations and my plan is to play the last friendly game in the last week of May, just prior to the qualifiers, with the venues probably being Kolkata or Doha, Qatar,” he said.
