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After the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced the list of probable players for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Afghanistan, Indian football head coach Igor Stimac on Thursday said that the team management has to see who are the "lucky ones" who can represent the Blue Tigers in their upcoming matches.
While speaking to ANI at the RevSportz's Trailblazers 2.0 Conclave on Thursday, Stimac accepted that Afghanistan's match will be "tricky" but they are looking "only for the results". He added that the Blue Tigers' will not get enough time to prepare for the match against Afghanistan. "I would say the wide list of 35 players was announced today and now it's up to them to do everything necessary to confirm their position in the final list of 25. We need to see who will be the lucky ones to represent India in two games against Afghanistan on the 21st and 26 March... Any opponent is tricky if you're not at the peak of your form. But at this stage of the qualifiers, we are looking only for the results, not for the quality of the performance, I would say because obviously once again we're not going to have enough time to prepare...," Stimac said. The Blue Tigers will first play the away match against Afghanistan on March 21 in Abha, Saudi Arabia. India's home match against Afghanistan will be played at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on March 26. The list of probables: Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Phurba Tempa Lachenpa, Vishal Kaith. Defenders: Akash Mishra, Lalchungnunga, Mehtab Singh, Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Nikhil Chandrashekhar Poojary, Subhasish Bose, Narender, Anwar Ali, Roshan Singh Naorem, Amey Ganesh Ranawade, Jay Gupta. Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Deepak Tangri, Lalthathanga Khawlhring, Lalengmawia Ralte, Imran Khan. Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Ishan Pandita, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Manvir Singh, Vikram Partap Singh, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Nandhakumar Sekar, Isak Vanlalruatfela. (ANI)
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