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India begins their Intercontinental Cup title defense on Sunday when they take on Central Asian nation Tajikistan. Head coach Igor Stimac has announced his final 25-member squad, which sees some new faces like Mandar Rao Desai, Jobby Justin, and Narender Gehlot.
Regulars from Stephen Constantine's era like Pritam Kotal, Pronay Halder Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, and Udanta Singh were as usual included. Others who proved their caliber at King's Cup like Adil Khan, Brandon Fernandes, and Sahal Abdul Samad also retained their spot.
However, some players were unlucky to miss out despite their brilliant performances in club football. Here we take a look at them.
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#3 Anwar Ali
Anwar Ali became one of the only two Indian Arrows players to get a King's Cup preliminary squad call-up. Many fans expected him to make his India debut by partnering alongside Sandesh Jhingan at the heart of the defense but an untimely injury meant he had to be axed.
Mumbai City FC identified his talent at the end of the 2017-18 season of the I-League itself when he played against them in the Super Cup. The 18-year-old was loaned back to the Arrows in the I-League, where he led the backline as the AIFF Developmental side finished seventh in the points table.
He marshaled the troops in the 2019 Super Cup as well, which kept a clean sheet against ISL side Kerala Blasters en route to routing them 2-0.
Anwar Ali got the call-up for Intercontinental Cup and played for India White in the intra-team practice game at the Mumbai Football Arena. However, his partner-in-crime Narender Gehlot got the nod ahead of him in the final squad.
Igor Stimac has named four centre-backs- Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Narender Gehlot, and Adil Khan. All of them are likely to get match time but it remains to be seen which one of them starts against Tajikistan in the curtain raiser.
#2 Raynier Fernandes
Mumbai City FC's Raynier Fernandes was one of the most under-rated Indian midfielders in the ISL but got his due recognition when Igor Stimac gave him a call-up for the King's Cup.
He came on as a second-half substitute in the match against Curacao, replacing Pronay Halder and played in the double pivot alongside Amarjit Singh Kiyam. The 23-year-old had a great outing as the Blue Tigers dictated the midfield and stopped Leandro Bacuna, who tormented the side in the first half.
Against Thailand, Raynier produced a commendable performance as India went on to win the game 1-0. However, he was replaced by Sahal Abdul Samad, who had a fabulous debut, in the second half.
Raynier scored two goals and bagged one assist despite playing in a 4-3-3 midfield. Rowllin Borges is giving him stiff competition for a spot in the India squad and that friendly rivalry is something we can also see in the Mumbai City FC in the ISL.
#1 Michael Soosairaj
Winning the 2017-18 I-League midfielder of the season award, Michael Soosairaj was constantly overlooked by the previous coach Stephen Constantine. Being one of the most sought-after stars in Indian football, ATK reportedly roped him by paying a whopping transfer fee of 1.2 crore rupees to Jamshedpur FC.
Igor Stimac faced some amount of criticism from fans as the AIFF appointed him based on his extensive research over Albert Roca, who had fabulous two seasons with Bengaluru FC previously. However, when he gave deserving players like Rahul Bheke and Michael an opportunity to represent India in the King's Cup, all those naysayers dashed away.
Soosairaj had a decent game against Curacao where he replaced Brandon Fernandes in the left-wing. India was attacking mainly through the right wing as a result of which Soosairaj only got one chance.
Despite beating the defender near the byline, he fluffed his line and failed to deliver an accurate cross. Mandar Rao Desai recovered from the injury he sustained in the ISL final and took his spot in the squad.
These three players' exclusion from the final squad of InterContinental Cup just shows the cut-throat competition in Indian football. Let's hope that these players push their limits harder to fight for their place and strengthen India's team further.
