CHENNAI: The first impression, as they say, is often the best impression and new India coach Igor Stimac has certainly made a good one.
The Croatian’s first squad of 37 players, who will join a camp ahead of the King’s Cup in Thailand in June, contains a number of names the fans and experts had been clamouring for.
The squad contains as many as 13 players who did not make Stephen Constantine’s list of 34 probables for the Asian Cup, many of whom were controversial omissions.
Among those called up are Bengaluru FC defender Rahul Bheke, widely thought of as one of the best full-backs in the Indian Super League, Michael Soosairaj who lit up the league with his attacking displays and former East Bengal striker Jobby Justin, who was the top-scoring Indian forward last year. Other new names include Mumbai City FC’s Raynier Fernandes, who played in all but one game in the ISL last year, FC Goa’s Brandon Fernandes and Delhi Dynamos’ Nandha Kumar.
Stimac has also opted for three players from India’s U-17 World Cup squad — Amarjit Singh, Anwar Ali and Komal Thatal. Among those missing out include Chennaiyin FC striker Jeje Lalpekhlua and FC Pune City attacker Ashique Kuruniyan, both out with injuries.
One would be forgiven for wondering if Stimac had some help picking the squad given his lack of exposure to Indian football. But he claims that the players were picked after careful research into the previous ISL and I-League seasons.
“I respected the choice of the squad which represented India in the AFC Asian Cup,” he was quoted as saying.
“The rest of the players have been added post my research watching I-League and ISL matches. I found some players quite interesting, and have summoned them to the camp.”
The squad represents a fresh start for Bheke, Justin and Soosairaj, who were ignored despite good performances for their clubs. The latter wants to make this chance count.
“I am happy that I finally made the squad,” said Soosairaj, who cut short his off-season break to start training a few days ago.
“Everyone’s just happy that I am in the probables. It’s up to me to ensure that I make the final list. It’s going to be tough because this is the best squad he (Stimac) could have chosen. But I am going to work as hard as I can because making the first squad of a new coach is important. If I do that, I can be in his plans for as long as he is here.”
The squad will assemble in New Delhi on May 20.
Probables: Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith, Amrinder Singh, Kamaljit Singh. Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Nishu Kumar, Rahul Bheke, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Adil Khan, Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose, Narayan Das. Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa, Raynier Fernandes, Bikramjit Singh, Dhanpal Ganesh, Pronay Halder, Rowllin Borges, Germanpreet Singh, Vinit Rai, Sahal Abdul, Amarjit Singh, Redeem Tlang, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Nandha Kumar, Komal Thatal, Michael Soosairaj. Forwards: Balwant Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Jobby Justin, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary, Manvir Singh.