Indian men’s football team gaffer Khalid Jamil named a 28-man preliminary squad for the Unity Cup to be held in London from May 26 to 30, on Thursday.
The Blue Tigers will assemble in Bengaluru for a short camp after the conclusion of the Indian Super League, before departing for London on May 24 for the four-nation tournament. The India head coach sounded that competing against stronger opponents will help strengthen and improve the team.
Jamil has chosen a squad featuring four goalkeepers and eight forwards for the contests against Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Jamaica.
India, currently 136th in the FIFA rankings, will face Jamaica, ranked 71st, on May 27 in the second semifinal. In the first semifinal, scheduled for the previous day, Nigeria will take
on Zimbabwe.
The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the final, while the losing teams will contest the third-place play-off, both matches taking place on May 30.
Jamil will evaluate the players during the brief camp before finalising the 23-man squad that will travel to London.
“The Unity Cup will be the perfect opportunity for us to prepare for the official tournaments like the SAFF Championship later this year. We need to utilise every available FIFA International Window to prepare for the tournaments we have up ahead,” Jamil said.
“We have selected the 28 players for the preliminary squad, as per their performances in the ongoing ISL. We will have a couple of days to assess them before we pick the final 23,” he added.
“We are playing against strong teams that play at a good level. I think these matches will give a lot of confidence to the players and help us play at that level. We should play more matches like these,” the head coach stated.
India’s 28-member preliminary squad:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith, Hrithik Tiwari, Albino Gomes.
Defenders: Rahul Bheke, Nikhil Poojary, Roshan Singh Naorem, Abhishek Singh Tekcham, Anwar Ali, Sandesh Jhingan, Akash Mishra, Bijoy Varghese, Pramveer.
Midfielders: Ashique Kuruniyan, Lalengmawia Ralte, Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Noufal PN, Ricky Shabong.
Forwards: Ryan Williams, Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco, Suhail Ahmad Bhat, Edmund Lalrindika, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Rahim Ali, Farukh Choudhary.
