India will look to draw inspiration from the recent success in the SAFF Cup as it hopes to regain the men’s gold in the South Asian Games. India takes on Sri Lanka in the first match here on Saturday, aiming to book a semifinal berth in the competition.
Lee Johnson, the Indian under-19 developmental coach, who has been given the charge to manage the national team here, feels India will hold its supremacy in the region and regain the top spot it had lost to Bangladesh in the previous edition held in Dhaka in 2010.
The All India Football Federation has named the final squad of 20 from which the teams will selected for the matches in the tournament. With the first list of probables announced barely three days ago, there was nothing by way of preparations as much of the time was spent in travel and assembly at the venue.
Brushing aside this shortcoming, Johnson said the team has enough to best the current level of competition. The team is mainly composed of the youth (under-23) players and there are a few who are from the under-19 team that is training under the Englishman.
“The boys want to capitalise on the recent success of the senior team that won the SAFF Cup. Some of them were part of the triumph, and there are also some who have played for the senior team in the recent past,” Johnson said.
The team will have the likes of striker Holicharan Narzary, midfielder Lallianzuala Changte, and defenders Pritam Kotal and Narayan Das from the SAFF Cup-winning team and will also be forming the core of Johnson’s plans. There are others like versatile Sandesh Jinghan and midfielder Jayesh Rane and Rowlin Borges, who have considerable ISL and I-League experience.
Staying focused is the key Johnson insisted on staying focused as the key to reaching its goal of winning the gold. He said all the opponents are unknown entities and the team needs to give off its best each time to get the right results. “In international football, you cannot take any team lightly. The players need to stay focused. The weather here is so much conducive for football,” Johnson said.
India plays Maldives next in the three-team group league stage before the knock-out stage starts. Defending champion Bangladesh is clubbed in Group B alongside Nepal and Bhutan. The absence Afghanistan, which the Indian senior team beat win the SAFF Cup, reduces the challenge for India considerably.
The Indian squad:
Goalkeepers: Kamaljit Singh, T.P. Rehenesh, Laxmikant Kattimani; Defenders: Bikramjit Singh, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Salam Ranjan Singh, Kaushik Sarkar, Narayan Das, Samad Ali Mallick; Midfielders: Vinit Rai, Lallianzuala Changte, Rowlin Borges, Jayesh Rane, Germanpreet Singh, Udanta Singh; Forwards: Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Sumeet Passi, T. Amoes, Holicharan Narzary.
