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#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.
