AGENCIES, AHMEDABAD:
After many years, finally, Goa manages to give four players to the National Team. FC Goa’s Brandon Fernandes and FC Pune City’s Adil Khan continued to feature in Stimac’s squad while the Gaurs skipper Mandar Rao Dessai and Mumbai City FC’s Rowllin Borges are the other two players to catch the Croatians eye and are among the 25-member squad for the forthcoming Hero Intercontinental Cup slated to begin from July 7.
Defending champions India take on Tajikistan in their first match on the opening day, while Syria and DPR Korea are the other two participating teams. All teams will play each other once with the top two making it to the final. All matches kick-off at 8pm.
Stimac stated that “all players worked really hard at the preparatory camp in Mumbai.”
“We are satisfied with the execution of work for the past ten days,” he informed. “The players worked really hard, and we are all very enthusiastic about our upcoming games,” he added.
Indian Arrows defender Narender Gahlot was named in the list along with Mandar Rao Dessai. The list will be cut down to 23 prior to the kick-off of the tournament. The Blue Tigers land in Ahmedabad tomorrow (July 6, 2019).
This is the first time Gujarat is hosting a Senior Men’s International competition.
Stimac, who coached Croatia to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 expressed, “all our work has been programmed to get us in form for the qualifiers.” The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers kick-off in September, the draw for which is slated for later this month.
“Once again, I will use the upcoming games in the tournament to have a look at all the players in action. Each one of them deserve the chance,” the Coach explained.
Stimac had summoned a list of 35 players for the preparatory camp in Mumbai which had kicked-off in Mumbai on June 25.
The 10 players who were released include Vishal Kaith, Nishu Kumar, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sarthak Golui, Anwar Ali, Raynier Fernandes, Michael Soosairaj, Nikhil Poojary, Jackichand Singh, and Balwant Singh, while Ashique Kuruniyan was earlier released from the camp.
