Team Herald
PANJIM: Five Goan players have been named in Igor Stimac’s 28-member squad for the three joint 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers to be held in Qatar.
Brandon Fernandes, Adil Khan, Rowllin Borges, Liston Colaco were the notable names while Glan Martins earned his first call for the national team.
Goa would have had six players but Seriton Fernandes was omitted at the eleventh hour after being tested positive for COVID.
Glan’s performances at ISL and AFC Champions League has been noticed at large which duly earned him a place at the national team.
Speaking on his first call to the national team, Glan Martins said, “As cliché as it sounds, it’s been a dream for me to represent India. So getting this call-up, is like a small milestone”.
“There is still a lot of room for me to grow. This is an opportunity that I want to make the best out of. I will give my best as always and keep going,” he added.
Brandon Fernandes and Adil Khan have been pivotal to the national team’s fortunes of late. All goals scored by the national team in the qualifiers have come through assists from Brandon with Adil scoring the late equaliser against Bangladesh.
While there were five from Goa, three of them represent FC Goa. However, the Gaurs have another two players from their team Ishan Pandita and Dheeraj Singh who had an exceptional AFC Champions League campaign.
It is learnt that the players received the National call on May 14 and were asked to fly to Delhi on May 15 before leaving for Qatar on Wednesday evening.
The team will have a preparatory camp inside a bio-bubble in Doha before its first match on June 3 against hosts Qatar.
Head coach Igor Stimac stated that although it is not the “ideal situation” ahead of the June qualifiers, the Blue Tigers will be putting in “intense” sessions during the camp before their matches get underway.
“It’s not an ideal situation as we move ahead to the qualifiers in June. Due to the pandemic, our national camp which was slated to begin in Kolkata at the beginning of May had to get cancelled”.
This will also see the return of skipper Sunil Chhetri, who had missed the two international friendlies played against Oman and UAE in March.
As per the health parameters required to travel to Qatar, all the players and staff will carry with them negative results from the RT-PCR COVID-19 tests conducted in the last 48 hours.
“The pandemic also robbed us of a friendly match in Dubai,” Stimac said.
